Sight is a sufficient prelude to marriage, for their sight is excellent.

There is no need for the lover to make an everlasting declaration, for his mistress is his next-door neighbour.
Is the song a means of charming, of touching the hard of heart?
I doubt it.

I observe no sign of satisfaction in the females; I have never seen them tremble or sway upon their feet, though their lovers have clashed their cymbals with the most deafening vigour.
My neighbours the peasants say that at harvest-time the Cigale sings to them: _Sego, sego, sego!_ (Reap, reap, reap!) to encourage them in their work.

Harvesters of ideas and of ears of grain, we follow the same calling; the latter produce food for the stomach, the former food for the mind.

Thus I understand their explanation and welcome it as an example of gracious simplicity.
Science asks for a better explanation, but finds in the insect a world which is closed to us.