PSYCHE. 



A NEW SEXUAL CHARACTER IN THE PUPAE OF SOME 



LEPIDOPTERA. 



BY JOSEPH ALBERT I.INTXER, ALBAXV, N. Y. 



[Read before the American association for the advancement of science at its 

 iVIontreal meeting, August 1SS2.] 



The sexual characters of insects 

 have al\va\'s been an interesting study 

 to the entomological student, the more 

 so as they are the less apparent, and 

 discoveral:)le, if to be found at all, only 

 as the result of close observation and 

 comparison. In the larger proportion 

 of insects, in the perfect stage, thev are 

 so marked as to leave no doubt of the 

 sex when the male and female are com- 

 pared. Thus, in the hymenoptera. we 

 have the ovipositor in its varied forms, 

 often quite conspicuous. In the lepi- 

 doptera, among the /wicrocera, there are 

 usualh' the more fuUv developed anten- 

 nae of the male, and the broader, conical 

 and more capacious abdomen of the 

 female — featin-es attaining their maxi- 

 mum development in the family of 

 bombvcidac. In the diptera, there are 

 the laiger and more approximate eyes 

 in the male, and conspicuous structural 

 diflereiices in the antennae and suctorial 

 apparatus in some of the families. In 

 the coleoptera, there are often, in the 

 male, stouter legs, broader tarsi, grcatl_v 

 elongated mandibles anil other horn-like 

 capital and thoracic processes. In the 

 hemiptera,. the vocal organs in the 

 cicadiJae, the ovipositor in several of 



the families, and the great sexual differ- 

 ences in size and in the presence or 

 absence of wings are prominent features. 

 In the orthoptera, there are the stridula- 

 ting wing-nerves, the extended oviposi- 

 tor, and a genital armature greatlv \aried 

 in its adaptation to greatly diflering 

 habits. And in the neuroptera, dis- 

 tinctive male characters are foimd in 

 clasping organs, in difterenccs in color 

 and in size, the long mandil)les of 

 Corydabis^ the abnormal location of the 

 intromittent organ xwlibellididaey and in 

 the elongated and forcipated genitalia 

 of Paiiorpa. 



In addition to such primary features 

 as above noted, there are numerous sec- 

 ondary ones, wliich do not appear to be 

 so dependent upon sex, and many of 

 which seem alnicjst to serve no higher 

 purpose than that of ornamentation. 

 Yet it is reasonable to believe tiiat most 

 of these diflerences have their use in the 

 economy of nature, and that they aid 

 in the continuance of the species. 



Among such minor antigenetical fea- 

 tures, may be mentioned, in the lepi- 

 doptera, the usuallv more angidated 

 wings of the male ; the simple frenulum 

 of most of the male Iteteroccra in con- 



