Abstract
IN his interesting article, Dr. O. Sotavalta1 discusses the estimation of the wing-stroke frequency of insects by their audible note. This method is older than he suggests. “… and I took coach, having first discoursed with Mr. Hooke a little, whom we met in the streete, about the nature of sounds, and he did make me understand the nature of musicall sounds made by strings, mighty prettily; and told me that having come to a certain number of vibrations proper to make any tone, he is able to tell how many strokes a fly makes with her wings (those flies that hum in their flying) by the note that it answers to in musique during their flying. That, I suppose, is a little too refined; but his discourse in general of sound was mighty fine.” (Samuel Pepys, August 8, 1666.)
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Sotavalta, O., Nature, 170, 1057 (1952).
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PANTIN, C. Flight-tone and Wing-stroke Frequency of Insects. Nature 171, 225 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1038/171225b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/171225b0
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