INSECT MONSTROSITIES. 
Pirate XXXYV. 
This plate is devoted to a class of Insect Monstrosities of very rare occurrence, to which hitherto but little 
attention has been directed, and which are unnoticed in any of the general Introductions to the Science. The 
individuals in question belong to the group which has been termed gynandromorphous!, the specimens par- 
taking of the characters of both sexes, being, generally, bilateral ; the sexual characters (being for the most 
part the secondary ones) of one sex being exhibited by one side of the body and its organs, and the peculiarities 
of the opposite sex being seen on the other half of the insect. But, in the specimens before us, the body of 
the insect appears to be unisexual, and the sexual divarication is confined entirely to the secondary sexual 
characters exhibited by one or more of the wings only. The peculiar import of this strange modification, in a 
physiological point of view, is very difficult to be understood ; and from the great rarity of the individuals, and 
their small size, we can hardly hope to obtain specimens sufficient for the necessary examination of the internal 
characters of the primary sexual organs. The specimens hitherto observed belong, for the most part, to the 
Diurnal Lepidoptera, in which the sexual variation in the markings and coloration of the wings quickly catches 
the eye. Doubtless, however, they are more numerous than has hitherto been supposed; but they are, of course, 
liable to be overlooked in the vast multitude of species of all orders, where the external sexual distinctions are 
not conspicuously distinct. In some instances these modifications of the markings have been suggested to be 
mere chance variations in the shape or colour of unisexual individuals; but as they are not unfrequently accom- 
panied by sexual variations in structural characters (such as the shape or size of the wings), it is impossible to 
doubt that they exhibit a strange commingling of sexual distinctions. 
1 This name was proposed by M. Lacordaire to supersede that of Hermaphrodites, which is more strictly applicable 
to those animals in which the generative organs of both sexes are normally included in the same individual, but which, 
nevertheless, require the presence of a second individual to effect the joint impregnation of the two individuals. 
