“Hearing of Insects”

Abstract

I AM able to confirm the accounts given by Mr. Simson in your last number as to the probability of the hearing of insects. When travelling on the River Magdalena, New Granada, in 1861, the mode of which is by a long boat, arched over with bamboo, on which the sailors (bogas) passing from one extremity to the other, propel it with long poles, hugging the river bank, accompanied with wild cries and execrations, I observed on several occasions that these cries suddenly ceased, a dead silence following, and on inquiring the cause they pointed to nests high up in the trees, whispering the word vispa (wasp). As the bogas pursue their avocations in a state of semi-nudity, they have the greatest dread of these insects, fearing to speak aloud, as their only alternative if attacked by them is to plunge into the stream, where alligators abound. The wasp is long, slender, and black in colour.