360 SEXUAL SELECTION. Part II. 



same object gained by the most diversified means; this 

 being due to the whole organisation undergoing in 

 the course of ages multifarious changes ; and as part 

 after part varies, different variations are taken advantage 

 of for the same general purpose. The diversification of 

 the means for producing sound in the three families 

 of the Orthoptera and in the Homoptera, impresses the 

 mind with the high importance of these structures to 

 the males, for the sake of calling or alluring the females. 

 We need feel no surprise at the amount of modification 

 which the Orthoptera have undergone in this respect, as 

 we now know, from Dr. Scudder's remarkable discovery, 42 

 that there has been more than ample time. This 

 naturalist has lately found a fossil insect in the Devonian 

 formation of New Brunswick, which is furnished with 

 " the well-known tympanum or stridulating apparatus 

 " of the male Locustidae." This insect, though in most 

 respects related to the Neuroptera, appears to connect, 

 as is so often the case with very ancient forms, the 

 two Orders of the Neuroptera and Orthoptera which are 

 now generally ranked as quite distinct. 



I have but little more to say on the Orthoptera. 

 Some of the species are very pugnacious : when two 

 male field-crickets (GryJIus camjiestris) are confined 

 together, they fight till one kills the other ; and the 

 sj)ecies of Mantis are described as manoeuvring with 

 their sword-like front-limbs, like hussars with their 

 sabres. The Chinese keep these insects in little bamboo 

 cages and match them like game-cocks. 43 With respect 

 to colour, some exotic locusts are beautifully orna- 

 mented ; the posterior wings being marked with red, 



42 ' Transact. Ent. Soc' 3rd series, vol. ii. (' Journal of Proceedings, 

 p. 117.) 



43 Wefctwood, 'Modern Class, of Insects,' vol. i. p. 427; for crickets, 

 p. 445. 



