122 An?ials Entomological Society of America [Vol. IX, 



of no other sense than that of hearing. In all the families 

 previously mentioned, except the Locustidae, the female is a 

 passive party in the process of copulation. In the Locustidae 

 she plays an active part in coming to the male in answer to his 

 call. In the Gryllid^ she must take a still more active part and 

 actually mount the back of the male before copulation can take 

 place. It is a far cry from the Phasmid in which the female is 

 so passive that the male will copulate with her abdomen which 

 has been fastened to a stick and the female of the cricket which 

 must not only find the male but even mount his back. Little 

 power of discrimination would be conceded to the female of the 

 Phasmid while in the cricket it appears that the female must 

 have a highly developed discrimination. Since in the Phasmid 

 it would be simply lost motion for the male to go through a 

 ■series of complicated movements before such an unresponsive 

 female, no such movements have been developed and copulation 

 is very simple. In the cricket, on the other hand, the male 

 must first make his whereabouts known and must then 

 demonstrate his sex before the female will mount. Sex dis- 

 crimination in the female and complication of preliminary 

 movements have developed hand in hand. 



COPULATION. 



Under this topic will be discussed mainly the relative position 

 of the bodies of male and female during copulation, the duration 

 of copulation and the method of transfer of spermatozoa. 



Since in the Cockroach the process is so rapid that the 

 details cannot be followed, it can only be said that the male 

 shoves his body under that of the female and accomplishes the 

 transfer of spermatozoa in a few seconds. 



The male Mantid simply mounts and copulates sometimes 

 retaining his position for as long as seven hours. The sper- 

 matozoa are transferred directly to the oviducts and if there is 

 any spermatophore present it is not visible externally. The 

 habit of cannibalism is highly developed among the Mantids. 

 If a pair is kept in captivity during their copulation, the female 

 will invariably devour the male, although he is usually given a 

 respite of an hour or so. Not infrequently, however, the male 

 is devoured during the actual process of copulation. This has 

 been observed in nature as well as in animals kept in captivity. 

 Fabre thinks that this habit is a relic of the Carboniferous 



