To right and left of the point of this ~V~ shine the tiny mirrors; and between the two branches of muscle the empty cavity is prolonged into the depths of the thorax.
This empty abdomen with its thoracic annex forms an enormous resonator, such as no other performer in our countryside can boast of.

If I close with my finger the orifice of the truncated abdomen the sound becomes flatter, in conformity with the laws affecting musical resonators; if I fit into the aperture of the open body a tube or trumpet of paper the sound grows louder as well as deeper.

With a paper cone corresponding to the pitch of the note, with its large end held in the mouth of a test-tube acting as a resonator, we have no longer the cry of the Cigale, but almost the bellowing of a bull.

My little children, coming up to me by chance at the moment of this acoustic experiment, fled in terror.
The grating quality of the sound appears to be due to the little tongues which press on the nervures of the vibrating cymbals; the cause of its intensity is of course the ample resonator in the abdomen.

We must admit that one must truly have a real passion for song before one would empty one's chest and stomach in order to make room for a musical-box.