LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LOXDON^. IJ 



attached as a parasite to the integument of the female, which 

 sometimes attains the dimensions of more than four inches. The 

 life of each male being probably brief, one may often find the 

 dead bodies of as many as seven former husbands on each side of 

 the female. 



Amongst the Arachnida the male is usually the smaller of the 

 two sexes. In Arrhenurus caudatus the male is small, more con- 

 spicuously and brilliantly coloured, with more hairy limbs, and 

 exhibits greater activity. In the higher Spiders, perhaps one of 

 the most instructive examples (for the knowledge of which we 

 are indebted to Mr. and Mrs. Peckham) is known as Astia 

 vittata. The male is sometimes of a uniform red colour and 

 somewhat smaller than the female, but, besides these males, there 

 are others in which the palpi, lateral and end portions of the 

 cephalothorax, and the whole of the abdomen are of a rich velvety 

 black, and with three tufts of black bristles standing up from 

 the middle of the red upper surface of the cephalothorax. The 

 behaviour of these two sorts of males in courtship is exceedingly 

 difierent, the black variety being always more appreciated than 

 the red male, the fore limbs of which are directed forwards 

 parallel to the ground, whereas the black or partially black male 

 raises himself oft' the gi'ound as high as possible on the three 

 hind pairs of limbs, the front pair being raised high in the air ; 

 the female always prefers the courtship of the last-mentioned 

 male. 



Amongst Insecta it is nearly always the male which is most 

 conspicuous by colour or some extravagance in form, as, for 

 instance, in Diptei-a, the interesting Philippine-Island forms 

 Phytalmia cervicornis and P. alciconiis, which possess some most 

 remarkable horn-like projections on the head; in beetles also it 

 is the male in such forms as Ceratorrhina Morgan &c. which shows 

 remarkable horn-like projections on the head, thorax, &c. ; a 

 general prolongation of the head characterizes the male of 

 Rhyticephalus hrevicornis. In Acantliinodera Cumingii the male 

 is small and hairy, covered with light brown hairs, whereas the 

 female is destitute of such hairs ; we have again the special tufts 

 of hairs in the males of numerous butterflies and moths, as 

 Calopsilia ahurona, Calesia dasypterus, or the extremely deve- 

 loped palpi in Mastygopliora mirabilis. As to antennae, it is in 

 the male that they are most developed, as in Amphidasis prodro- 

 maria&c. amongst Lepidoptera, and amongst Diptera Ctenop)1iora 

 atrata. In beetles Polyphylla fullo furnishes an extreme ex- 

 ample. 



The eyes, again, have diflferences, and are largest in the males .: 

 this is especially evident in Bibio pomone and many Tabanidje ; 

 the mandibles also are exaggerated in such forms as many 

 Lucanidse. The limbs, again, may differ in the sexes, as the 

 swollen thighs of the male in (Edomera, the long fore limbs of 

 Cyrtotrachelus, the hind limbs of Chrysophora. The apterous 



LINK. SOC. PROCEEDINGS. — SESSION 1890-81. C 



