190 



BRITISH ENTOMOSTRACA. 



eggs, which at the end of three months, at eight layings 

 during that time, would give 320 young. Out of this 

 number he calculates 80 as males (there being in every 

 laying a great j3roportion of females), the remaining 240 

 are females. 



The following table will show the prodigious extent of 

 of their fecundity •* 



No. of 

 layings. 



1st mother . 



1 st family of fe- 

 males 240 



2(1 family of fe 

 males 57,600 



3d fam. of fem. 

 13,824,000 



H 

 H 

 H 



Time employed for 

 these eight layings. 



From 1st Jan. to 

 end of March 



From 1st April 

 to end of June 



From 1st July to 

 end of Septem. 



From 1st October 

 to end of Dec 



TOTAL. 



Each laying sup- 

 posed to he of 4o 



320 



76,800 



} 18,432,000 

 }4,423,680,000 



4,442,189,120 



Suh tract for 

 males. 



80 



19,200 



4,608,000 

 1,105,920,000 



1,110,547,280 



Females 

 remaining. 



240 



57,600 



13,824,000 

 3,317,760,000 



3,331,641,840 



A single copulation suffices to fecundate the female for 

 life. The male seems very ardent in his amours. By 

 way of prelude, he seizes hold of the hinder feet of the 

 female with his antennae, which being furnished at its ex- 

 tremity with the hinge-joint already described, forms a 

 fastening round her feet, which she cannot loosen by 

 any exertion, and thus he is carried about with great 

 rapidity for some time. The female, however, at length 

 stops, wearied by her exertions, when the male seizes the 

 favorable moment, and in the twinkling of an eye (as 

 Jurine expresses it) makes a double copulation, one on 

 each side. According to Miiller, the male organs are 

 situate in the swellings which we perceive in the antennae 

 of that sex, and which are characteristic of it. Carried 

 away by the analogy of the Arachnidae, and seeing the 

 male take hold of the lower part of the female with liis 



* Juriuc, Hist, des Monoc, &c., p. 32. 



