Structure of the Lmnpyrldce. 67 



I trust I shall not heave been too prolix or to have dwelt 

 longer on the subject than it deserved. I have for some 

 years taken the greatest interest in the distinctions in the 

 sexes of insects, and the apparent cause of these diversities, 

 or ends gained by their means, and you will see that the 

 theory of their gradual development forms part of my 

 suggestion. 



We do not find here the feet with widened tarsi, or 

 patellated front feet with roughened elytra in the female, 

 as in the Carabidce and Water-beetles, nor prehensile 

 bent tibiae in the male as in Necrophaga, Weevils, and 

 many other groups, nor teeth developed on the tibiae, nor 

 claspers to the abdomen, nor the enormous jaws of Lucanus 

 by which, as I have observed, he can throw a rival as an 

 athlete does his antagonist, nor fighting horns as in many 

 Coleoptera. But what we do find is a simple natural 

 variation, taken advantage of with such success, that it has 

 proved sufficient to mould at least two other organs by its 

 application to the insect's necessities : one the eye in the 

 direction of developing its power, the other the antenna by 

 correlation in the opposite direction of reducing it to a 

 rudiment. The light of Lampyridce, which may have 

 originated with their molluscan diet, has been sufficient to 

 develop the most perfect eyes I have noticed in Coleoptera: 

 while it has rendered unnecessary and checked the original 

 tendency to plumosity in the organ of touch, wherever it 

 has been taken advantage of in any considerable degree. 



Among the numberless variations that arise naturally in 

 the animal and vegetable kingdom, man is ever availing 

 himself of those he desires, and is, to a great extent, able 

 to render those that are useful permanent, and to check 

 those that are not so, and it appears to me that I have shown 

 you an example where nature has proceeded in the same 

 way. 



Our Vice-President, in his address, exhorted us in our 

 papers to bring our attention to bear on the morphological 

 characters and habits of the creatures we study. If I have 

 relieved the monotony of the technical descriptions, and 

 mere classification of these beetles, which the Society has 

 received so favourably, and taken a step in the direction 

 he indicated, I shall feel I have not wasted your time, and 

 shall be recompensed if the discussion of the subject brings 

 out any new facts for its elucidation. 



