The Descent of Man, Charles Darwin [top 100 books of all time checklist txt] 📗

to run away and the male runs after her with a queer appearance of anger, gets in front and stands facing her again; then she turns coyly round, but he, quicker and more active, scuttles round too, and seems to whip her with his antennae; then for a bit they stand face to face, play with their antennae, and seem to be all in all to one another.”

ORDER, DIPTERA (FLIES).

The sexes differ little in colour. The greatest difference, known to Mr. F. Walker, is in the genus Bibio, in which the males are blackish or quite black, and the females obscure brownish-orange. The genus Elaphomyia, discovered by Mr. Wallace (18. ‘The Malay Archipelago,’ vol. ii. 1869, p. 313.) in New Guinea, is highly remarkable, as the males are furnished with horns, of which the females are quite destitute. The horns spring from beneath the eyes, and curiously resemble those of a stag, being either branched or palmated. In one of the species, they equal the whole body in length. They might be thought to be adapted for fighting, but as in one species they are of a beautiful pink colour, edged with black, with a pale central stripe, and as these insects have altogether a very elegant appearance, it is perhaps more probable that they serve as ornaments. That the males of some Diptera fight together is certain; Prof. Westwood (19. ‘Modern Classification of Insects,’ vol. ii. 1840, p. 526.) has several times seen this with the Tipulae. The males of other Diptera apparently try to win the females by their music: H. Muller (20. ‘Anwendung,’ etc., ‘Verh. d. n. V. Jahrg.’ xxix. p. 80. Mayer, in ‘American Naturalist,’ 1874, p. 236.) watched for some time two males of an Eristalis courting a female; they hovered above her, and flew from side to side, making a high humming noise at the same time. Gnats and mosquitoes (Culicidae) also seem to attract each other by humming; and Prof. Mayer has recently ascertained that the hairs on the antennae of the male vibrate in unison with the notes of a tuning-fork, within the range of the sounds emitted by the female. The longer hairs vibrate sympathetically with the graver notes, and the shorter hairs with the higher ones. Landois also asserts that he has repeatedly drawn down a whole swarm of gnats by uttering a particular note. It may be added that the mental faculties of the Diptera are probably higher than in most other insects, in accordance with their highly- developed nervous system. (21. See Mr. B.T. Lowne’s interesting work, ‘On the Anatomy of the Blow-fly, Musca vomitoria,’ 1870, p. 14. He remarks (p. 33) that, “the captured flies utter a peculiar plaintive note, and that this sound causes other flies to disappear.”)

ORDER, HEMIPTERA (FIELD-BUGS).

Mr. J.W. Douglas, who has particularly attended to the British species, has kindly given me an account of their sexual differences. The males of some species are furnished with wings, whilst the females are wingless; the sexes differ in the form of their bodies, elytra, antennae and tarsi; but as the signification of these differences are unknown, they may be here passed over. The females are generally larger and more robust than the males. With British, and, as far as Mr. Douglas knows, with exotic species, the sexes do not commonly differ much in colour; but in about six British species the male is considerably darker than the female, and in about four other species the female is darker than the male. Both sexes of some species are beautifully coloured; and as these insects emit an extremely nauseous odour, their conspicuous colours may serve as a signal that they are unpalatable to insectivorous animals. In some few cases their colours appear to be directly protective: thus Prof. Hoffmann informs me that he could hardly distinguish a small pink and green species from the buds on the trunks of lime-trees, which this insect frequents.

Some species of Reduvidae make a stridulating noise; and, in the case of Pirates stridulus, this is said (22. Westwood, ‘Modern Classification of Insects,’ vol. ii. p. 473.) to be effected by the movement of the neck within the pro-thoracic cavity. According to Westring, Reduvius personatus also stridulates. But I have no reason to suppose that this is a sexual character, excepting that with non-social insects there seems to be no use for sound-producing organs, unless it be as a sexual call.

ORDER: HOMOPTERA.

Every one who has wandered in a tropical forest must have been astonished at the din made by the male Cicadae. The females are mute; as the Grecian poet Xenarchus says, “Happy the Cicadas live, since they all have voiceless wives.” The noise thus made could be plainly heard on board the “Beagle,” when anchored at a quarter of a mile from the shore of Brazil; and Captain Hancock says it can be heard at the distance of a mile. The Greeks formerly kept, and the Chinese now keep these insects in cages for the sake of their song, so that it must be pleasing to the ears of some men. (23. These particulars are taken from Westwood’s ‘Modern Classification of Insects,’ vol. ii. 1840, p. 422. See, also, on the Fulgoridae, Kirby and Spence, ‘Introduct.’ vol. ii. p. 401.) The Cicadidae usually sing during the day, whilst the Fulgoridae appear to be night-songsters. The sound, according to Landois (24. ‘Zeitschrift fur wissenschaft Zoolog.’ B. xvii. 1867, ss. 152-158.), is produced by the vibration of the lips of the spiracles, which are set into motion by a current of air emitted from the tracheae; but this view has lately been disputed. Dr. Powell appears to have proved (25. ‘Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,’ vol. v. 1873, p. 286.) that it is produced by the vibration of a membrane, set into action by a special muscle. In the living insect, whilst stridulating, this membrane can be seen to vibrate; and in the dead insect the proper sound is heard, if the muscle, when a little dried and hardened, is pulled with the point of a pin. In the female the whole complex musical apparatus is present, but is much less developed than in the male, and is never used for producing sound.

With respect to the object of the music, Dr. Hartman, in speaking of the Cicada septemdecim of the United States, says (26. I am indebted to Mr. Walsh for having sent me this extract from ‘A Journal of the Doings of Cicada septemdecim,’ by Dr. Hartman.), “the drums are now (June 6th and 7th, 1851) heard in all directions. This I believe to be the marital summons from the males. Standing in thick chestnut sprouts about as high as my head, where hundreds were around me, I observed the females coming around the drumming males.” He adds, “this season (Aug. 1868) a dwarf pear-tree in my garden produced about fifty larvae of Cic. pruinosa; and I several times noticed the females to alight near a male while he was uttering his clanging notes.” Fritz Muller writes to me from S. Brazil that he has often listened to a musical contest between two or three males of a species with a particularly loud voice, seated at a considerable distance from each other: as soon as one had finished his song, another immediately began, and then another. As there is so much rivalry between the males, it is probable that the females not only find them by their sounds, but that, like female birds, they are excited or allured by the male with the most attractive voice.

I have not heard of any well-marked cases of ornamental differences between the sexes of the Homoptera. Mr. Douglas informs me that there are three British species, in which the male is black or marked with black bands, whilst the females are pale-coloured or obscure.

ORDER, ORTHOPTERA (CRICKETS AND GRASSHOPPERS).

The males in the three saltatorial families in this Order are remarkable for their musical powers, namely the Achetidae or crickets, the Locustidae for which there is no equivalent English name, and the Acridiidae or grasshoppers. The stridulation produced by some of the Locustidae is so loud that it can be heard during the night at the distance of a mile (27. L. Guilding, ‘Transactions of the Linnean Society,’ vol. xv. p. 154.); and that made by certain species is not unmusical even to the human ear, so that the Indians on the Amazons keep them in wicker cages. All observers agree that the sounds serve either to call or excite the mute females. With respect to the migratory locusts of Russia, Korte has given (28. I state this on the authority of Koppen, ‘Uber die Heuschrecken in Sudrussland,’ 1866, p. 32, for I have in vain endeavoured to procure Korte’s work.) an interesting case of selection by the female of a male. The males of this species (Pachytylus migratorius) whilst coupled with the female stridulate from anger or jealousy, if approached by other males. The house-cricket when surprised at night uses its voice to warn its fellows. (29. Gilbert White, ‘Natural History of Selborne,’ vol. ii. 1825, p. 262.) In North America the Katy-did (Platyphyllum concavum, one of the Locustidae) is described (30. Harris, ‘Insects of New England,’ 1842, p. 128.) as mounting on the upper branches of a tree, and in the evening beginning “his noisy babble, while rival notes issue from the neighbouring trees, and the groves resound with the call of Katy-did-she- did the live-long night.” Mr. Bates, in speaking of the European field- cricket (one of the Achetidae), says “the male has been observed to place himself in the evening at the entrance of his burrow, and stridulate until a female approaches, when the louder notes are succeeded by a more subdued tone, whilst the successful musician caresses with his antennae the mate he has won.” (31. ‘The Naturalist on the Amazons,’ vol. i. 1863, p. 252. Mr. Bates gives a very interesting discussion on the gradations in the musical apparatus of the three families. See also Westwood, ‘Modern Classification of Insects,’ vol. ii. pp. 445 and 453.) Dr. Scudder was able to excite one of these insects to answer him, by rubbing on a file with a quill. (32. ‘Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History,’ vol. xi. April 1868.) In both sexes a remarkable auditory apparatus has been discovered by Von Siebold, situated in the front legs. (33. ‘Nouveau Manuel d’Anat. Comp.’ (French translat.), tom. 1, 1850, p. 567.)

[Fig.11. Gryllus campestris (from Landois). Right-hand figure, under side of part of a wing-nervure, much magnified, showing the teeth, st. Left-hand figure, upper surface of wing-cover, with the projecting, smooth nervure, r, across which the teeth (st) are scraped.

Fig.12. Teeth of Nervure of Gryllus domesticus (from Landois).]

In the three Families the sounds are differently produced. In the males of the Achetidae both wing-covers have the same apparatus; and this in the field-cricket (see Gryllus campestris, Fig. 11) consists, as described by Landois (34. ‘Zeitschrift fur wissenschaft. Zoolog.’ B. xvii. 1867, s. 117.), of from 131 to 138 sharp, transverse ridges or teeth (st) on the under side of one of the nervures of the wing-cover. This toothed nervure is rapidly scraped across a projecting, smooth, hard nervure ® on the upper surface of the opposite wing. First one wing is rubbed over the other, and then the movement is reversed. Both wings are raised a little at the same time, so as to increase the resonance. In