270 



PSrCHE. 



[August — December 18S9. 



more than the females from the ances- 

 tral type." 



In the first place, assuming that the 

 larvae and pupae are more like the an- 

 cestral forms than the imago, the females 

 show less divergence from this form than 

 the males in being more frequently ap- 

 terous or abortive winged. When the 

 ^vings are fully developed they are as a 

 rule smaller relatively if not absolutely 

 in the female, and there is perhaps no 

 notable exception to this rule. The fe- 

 males also approach more nearly to the 

 ancestral type in the frequently less de- 

 veloped antennae. 



Throughout the order it is very gen- 

 erally true that the coloration is brighter 

 and more contrasting in the male. In 

 Pezotettix viridulus the male is bright 

 pea green (in living specimens) with 

 black pleural stripes while in the female 

 the color is nearly uniformly dull 

 brown. In the wings of most oedi- 

 podae the transverse black or fuliginous 

 band is more extended in the male as 

 are also the similarly colored spots in 

 the usually transparent apex. In the 

 same family the fuscous spots and bands 

 of the elytra are not infrequently much 

 deeper in color in the male. The ge- 

 nus Acridlum offers some exception to 

 this rule of coloration since, while on 

 the whole the males are more brilliantly 

 colored, certain species have the elytra 

 as well as the head and pronotum obso- 

 letely spotted or unicolored in the male, 

 and obsoletely or distinctly spotted in 

 the female, the latter being much more 

 variable in this respect. This apparent 

 departure from the rule may possibly be 



explained by the females retaining 

 longer a larval or ancestral character. 

 Unfortunately I have no knowledge of 

 the larvae of these species to help me 

 in deciding this point. But in the al- 

 lied genus Melaiiophts it is certain that 

 the larvae are in many species much 

 more spotted and streaked than the 

 imagos. In niantidae generally the 

 males have the elytra distinctly more 

 membranous than the females. Since 

 the elytra are, in orthoptera generally, 

 protective in color and form as well as 

 in structure, it might be expected that 

 the only carnivorous family needing this 

 protection least would be the first to out- 

 grow it and it is quite in accord with 

 Mr. Brooks's theory of heredity to find 

 the males of niantidae leading the fe- 

 males in this change. In the genus 

 ]\Ielanophis the males show in the club- 

 shaped abdomen a marked departure 

 from tlie usual subcylindrical or taper- 

 ing form of tills part which is common 

 in the saltatorial division of the order. 

 The males of this genus and its allies 

 Pezotettix and Acriditiiii exhibit a pe- 

 culiar development of the anal cerci 

 which are generally of the simplest and 

 most regular form in this family. 



Finally the much more attenuate forms 

 of the males of phas7uidae certainly 

 show them to be in advance of the 

 stouter females in their divergence from 

 the typical orthopterous form. 



2. ''Those organs that are confined 

 to males or are of more importance or 

 are more perfectly developed in them 

 than in the females are much more 

 likely to give rise to hereditary modifi- 



