68 Life and Love. 



saws, or bores, or stings in the interest of the 



egg- 

 In the male the last segments of the body are 

 also modified to assist in the important office 

 assigned to him. 



The outgrowths from the lower side of the hin- 

 der abdominal segments take the form of powerful 

 intromittent organs, which are often furnished with 

 complicated claspers to hold them in place while 

 the sperm-cells are being conveyed, or " intromit- 

 ted " to the oviduct, there to mingle with the egg- 

 cells before they leave the body of the female, and 

 with a minimum of waste, secure life to the being 

 imprisoned within the egg. 



In many insects this transference takes place 

 during flight. 



Generally it is soon followed by the death of 

 both male and female, the female living only long 

 enough to wield that wonderful and complicated 

 mechanism by which she is enabled to place her 

 eggs in positions of advantage. 



The ovipositor, like the wings, is the dowry of 

 the imago. As a rule, the larva is devoid of this 

 complicated mechanism in the female, and the 

 equally complicated intromittent organ of the male. 

 Only for the brief hours of its winged life do these 

 complex structures come into existence. 



Oftentimes the female is provided with a recep- 

 tacle for storing up the sperm-cells of the male. 



This is the case with the bee, where onl}' once 



