There are many drummers in the insect orchestra. The Cicada operates a small kettle drum. On the front of its body, a tough membrane is stretched over a small cavity. When set in motion by a special muscle, it gives out a surprisingly agreeable sound. The Greeks enjoyed this music so well that they often caged the Cicada much as they would a bird. In the hatching time of the seventeen-year variety, the energetic drumming of thousands of the insects rises into a scream which is far from melodious. Under such conditions, the noise can be heard for half a mile. Travelers tell of a giant South American species which produces a drumming which is as loud as a locomotive whistle. An uncanny drummer is the “Death Watch Beetle.” It uses its head for drumsticks and when in the wood of furniture often plays a tattoo with considerable skill. Superstitious people, for no apparent good reason, sometimes insist this is a warning of impending death. Even the pretty little Butterfly on occasion is a drummer. With hooks on its wings, it makes a sharp crackle, not unlike one of the weird noises sometimes used by human “traps.” Beetles play the bones. The Bamboo Tree is sometimes the possessor of a whole corps of intelligent and efficient drummers. They attach themselves to the under side of the leaves, from which vantage-point they strike them with their heads whenever their services are required. An Ant of the _Sumatran_ species keeps wonderful time. Though spread out over a number of square yards of leaf space, a group of these tiny creatures will start and stop tapping at the same instant. Perhaps in some far-distant age, mankind will begin remotely to understand the significance of the music of the plant world and its allies. We have no right to say that the plants are not true musicians. While we may only understand their system of harmony in part, we can realize it contains hidden beauties just as the presence of microscopic organisms in the world is indicated by their effects rather than by actual perception. CHAPTER IX SCIENCE IN THE PLANT WORLD “_Weak with nice sense, the chaste Mimosa stands, From each rude touch withdraws her timid hands._” Plants are profound scientists. Their knowledge may not be as broad and far-reaching as that of man, but they are more successful workers than he. With all his wonderful discoveries in physics and chemistry, man as a class has not yet learned to conduct his own body so as to make it yield the highest efficiency. In fact, members of the human race are today wearing out their frames at a faster rate than ever before. Adept at running huge mechanisms of steel, they are neglectful of those most delicate and wonderful machines which are bound up with their own life processes.