( cxi ) 



It is difficult to imagine that the often remarkable form 

 of the claws has no special utility, but when trying to find 

 to what purpose a particular foi-m is adapted, one is met 

 with what seems to be contradictory evidence on every side. 

 Of course a claw might be suitable for a particular mode 

 of life, and it does not necessarily follow that all insects 

 that have similar habits would have the same form of claw. 

 It is remarkable how Nature having shown you in one insect 

 an organ beautifully adapted to perform some special function, 

 proceeds to show you in another that she can do perfectly 

 well without it. For example, Dytiscus and Notonecta and 

 other water insects have the hind tarsi formed most per- 

 fectly for swimming, but Litodactylus, a weevil, which from 

 its appearance and the very ordinary form of its legs one 

 would never suspect of going near water, nevertheless lives 

 in it and swims rapidly. 



Let us briefly examine this question in the light of the 

 examples I have just given. Take, for instance, insects con- 

 stantly frequenting flowers. Mr. Champion in our " Trans- 

 actions" (1907, p. 164), in an account of his captures in Spain, 

 gives a list of Coleoptera found "on flowers in open spaces." 

 They are "Clytids, Lepturids, Malachiids, Mordellids, CEdeme- 

 rids, Cryptocephalus, Omophlus, Cerocoma, Coryna, Lohonyx, 

 Trichms, AnisopUa, Chasmatopterus." Of these the Clytids, 

 Lepturids, Q^demerids, Cryptoceplialiis and Trichius have 

 simple claws ; AnisopUa and Chasiaatoptenos have bifid claws ; 

 Mordellids may be either simple, toothed or pectinate ; 

 OmoiMus has them pectinate, and Lohonyx appendiculate ; 

 Cerocoma and Coryna are Cantharidai with quasi-bifid claws. 

 Thus we have in this one little list every form of claw, quite 

 half the insects having them simple. Add to these those 

 that we know by experience would be associated with them, 

 numerous Diptera, Ichneitjmonidse, Tenthredinidx, Wasps and 

 Bees. Nearly all the Diptera, the Ichnenmonidse, and some of 

 the wasps have simple claws. The Tenthredinidie have them 

 bifid, as have also many of the bees, although some of these, 

 such as Osmia, have them simple, and Megachile has them 

 toothed. There is nothing here to point to any particular 

 form of claw being specially adapted to insects frequenting 



