CHAPTER X - SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF INSECTS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2010
Summary
In the immense class of insects the sexes sometimes differ in their organs for locomotion, and often in their sense-organs, as in the pectinated and beautifully plumose antennae of the males of many species. In one of the Ephemerae, namely Chloëon, the male lias great pillared eyes, of which the female is entirely destitute. The ocelli are absent in the females of certain other insects, as in the Mutillidas, which are likewise destitute of wings. But we are chiefly concerned with structures by which one male is enabled to conquer another, either in battle or courtship, through his strength, pugnacity, ornaments, or music. The innumerable contrivances, therefore, by which the male is able to seize the female, may be briefly passed over. Besides the complex structures at the apex of the abdomen, which ought perhaps to be ranked as primary organs, “it is astonishing,” as Mr. B. D. Walsh has remarked, “how many different organs are worked in “by nature, for the seemingly insignificant object of “enabling the male to grasp the female firmly.” The mandibles or jaws are sometimes used for this purpose; thus the male Corydalis cornutus (a neuropterous insect in some degree allied to the Dragon-flies, &c.) has immense curved jaws, many times longer than those of the female; and they are smooth instead of being toothed, by which means he is enabled to seize her without injury.
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- The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex , pp. 341 - 385Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1871