24 
no such conditions could possibly exist in Nature and always produce 
wingless females. Again, granting it was hereditary, why should it 
be confined to the female line? 
To the second question it might be replied that although some had 
fancied a difference could be detected between the caterpillars, which 
would produce males and those which would produce females, he 
believed it was, after all, mere fancy, and that whether there was any 
essential difference existing either in the eggs or the larvee, was at 
present one of the unexplained mysteries. 
To the third question an answer in the affirmative could be given, 
not alone among the Lepidoptera were there wingless females. One 
of the most striking examples was the cochineal insect, in which, 
while the males possessed wings, the females were not only destitute 
of wings, but almost of limbs ; the absence of wings was also seen in 
the summer or immature females of the aphides. Some species of 
“walking sticks” supplied wingless females ; among the cockroaches 
the wings were sometimes wanting in the females, while in the parasitic 
strepsiptera, the females were not only destitute of wings, but were for 
a long time, from their worm-like appearance, mistaken for larve, till 
dissection showed that these worm-like creatures were full of eggs. 
But perhaps the best known example was the glow-worm, the females 
of which @/one were luminous, and presented the appearance of flat 
greyish brown larvze, quite destitute of wings, while the males were 
active and flew well. 
It certainly seemed a very strange phenomenon, and was opposed 
to what might be imagined the fitness of things, that, as far as the 
continuance of the race was concerned, the more important of the two 
sexes, the females, in so many cases, were unable to go far from home. 
This fact, together with the circumstance that the so-called perfect 
form, fell far short of the larval state in the means of locomotion, ex- 
ternal decoration, or the possession of some organs, rendered the en- 
quiry, ‘‘ Why are some insects wingless ?” worthy the consideration of 
scientific naturalists. 
Mr. H. Goss kindly illustrated the paper with a series of males 
and females of all the moths mentioned, with the exception of the 
psychide. 
At the conclusion a cordial vote of thanks was passed to Mr. 
Wonfor for his interesting paper. 
Mr. Moore said the form of the male ins2:t was doubtless the 
more developed in order that it might be able to seek the female. 
