^,,^v^\""^'^\ cxxiii ) W'/^S .C,,^5^,, 



. . r ^ 



and in sizej; there are also a pair of smaller inner cerci»that 

 differ in length, but these are simple, not being articulated ; 

 there are two comparatively smallish lateral organs that are 

 perhaps homologues of the harpagones of the Lepidoptera, 

 the one assumes a somewhat " clasp "-like form and is deeply 

 serrate, the other is twice the size with a longish pointed 

 apex on one side and a sharply dentate short arm-like apophysis 

 on the other side ; whilst there are also two largish apophyses 

 on one side, one of which is dentate for a portion of its length, 

 somewhat ribbon-like in shape, whilst the other ends in a 

 tubular-pointed and hooked apex; there is nothing on the 

 other side corresponding with these organs unless we consider 

 a smallish finely membranous cone-like process as a set-off 

 to them. The sedoeagus is quite small for the size of the insect. 

 The Odonata are, I believe, an order of insects standing 

 entirely alone as to their copulatory systems, the anal orifice 

 is situated at the end of the abdomen, viz. the twelfth abdominal 

 somite, and here are placed in the male the principal clasping 

 organs, but inasmuch as the sedoeagus is not located at the 

 end of the abdomen but is placed in the second and third 

 somites and is furnished with secondary armature also, it is 

 obvious that a highly specialised development must have 

 taken place, whilst in addition to these points the orifice of 

 the ejaculatory duct is on the ninth abdominal segment and 

 therefore widely separated from the sedoeagus. In the female 

 the genital orifice occurs in the ninth abdominal segment, not 

 in the twelfth. As a consequence of these facts, it follows that 

 the copulatory position is entirely different in the Odonata 

 from that obtaining in all other orders of insects. The primary 

 clasping organs in the twelfth abdominal segment of the male 

 seize the head or prothorax, or both, of the female ; the superior 

 appendages, i. e. those occupying the position of the tegumen 



n the Lepidoptera, clasp the back of the eyes or the pro- 

 thorax, whilst the inferior appendages, i. e. those occupying 

 the position of the harpagones in the Lepidoptera, clasp the 

 space between the eyes on the face, thus acting as a pair of 



pincers over the caput ; the abdomens of the two insects then 

 face each other ventrally, the female clasping that of the male 



with her legs and bringing her ninth segment into contact 



