SOME OF THE "LOWER ORDERS" 193 



nothing of the ninety-nine males doomed to perish without 

 leaving offspring. 



That the beauty of colour and form which the Lepi- 

 doptera, and especially the diurnal Lepidoptera, or 

 Butterflies, exhibit is due to the choice by the females — 

 albeit an unconscious choice — of the most resplendent 

 of her suitors, that is, in other words, that she yields at 

 last to the most ravishing member of the crowd — there 

 is no evidence to show. There would seem to be no 

 possibility of a differential selection from among a number 

 of males, for there is no " display " comparable to that, 

 say, of birds. And what is more, it is unlikely that, if 

 there were, she would find anything to choose between 

 them, for the range of variation in, say, one hundred 

 males of any given species is very slight. Finally we 

 have no trustworthy evidence to show that the eyes of 

 Butterflies and Moths are sufficiently good to enable 

 them to make nice distinctions between slightly different 

 males. We have no evidence that the eyes of Insects are 

 capable of discriminating the details of the often intricate 

 patterns which their own wings, and those of their suitors, 

 exhibit. 



In the matter of " Secondary Sexual Characters,'* 

 indeed, the Lepidoptera exhibit very Httle difference 

 between the sexes. As a rule the females are larger, often 

 strikingly so, but in the matter of coloration they show far 

 less disparity. But there are exceptions to every rule. 

 A striking illustration of this is afforded by the genus 

 Ornithoptera. The butterflies of this superb group are 

 of huge size, and the females are larger than their con- 

 sorts, and commonly are extremely different therefrom 

 both in coloration and habits. In Ornithoptera faradisea 

 this disparity attains its maximum. The female, remarks 



13 



