On the Affinities of the Ptdicites. cxliii 



formerly emphatically designated worms or Vermes, and the phenomenon is equally 

 exhibited in the mollusk and annelide divisions of the province : the garden snail 

 (Helix aspersa) may be quoted as an example of the former; the common earth-worm 

 (Lumbricus terrestris) as an example of the latter. In these the organs of both sexes 

 are perfectly developed, each individual is at the same time a perfect male and a per- 

 fect female, yet strange to say, it appears to have no power to fecundate itself, a coitus 

 with another individual being required for that purpose, and both individuals being 

 made fruitful by the double union. Phenomena of this class may be characterized as 

 Androgynous, or perfectly male and female. 



We now arrive at the fourth and lowest province of animals, those of radiate struc- 

 ture : among these, as a rule, there is no difference of sex ; like a flower with stamens 

 and pistils, each individual is complete in itself, the sexual parts being interwoven as 

 it were with each other : hence, like the flower, it reproduces its kind. Oken says of 

 the individuals among vertebrates, that two of opposite sexes are required to make a 

 perfect being ; but among the radiates, on the contrary, each individual is perfect, 

 each, unaided and alone, is capable of all the functions nature requires for the preser- 

 vation of its kind. Here then we have the fable carried out : here we have the two 

 bodies blended into one : here we have the true hermaphrodite, a creature fulfilling all 

 the conditions of the myth : to this the term Hermaphrodite is strictly applicable, 

 and, as I conceive, to this it should be rigidly restricted. 



The following formula will express these phenomena. 



Normal condition. Monstrous and exceptional Provinces, 

 condition. 



[Hermaphrodite Radiata. 



T ,. ., , Androgynous Vermes. 



Indmduals ... -J (Hemigynous Insecta. 



^Monogenous f Pseudogynous Vertebrata. 



It is thus, I hope, shown that the idea attached to the term hermaphrodite is not 

 precise ; and moreover, that Hunter's division of hermaphrodites into natural and un- 

 natural, is not sufficient, since each of these divisions comprises two classes of pheno- 

 mena perfectly distinct.* Edward Newman. 



Art. XXV. — Affinities of the Pulicites, an Essay. 

 By Edward Newman. 



" Fleas are not lobsters, ! " — Peter Pindar. 



" La puce est un Diptere sans ailes." — Strauss Durckheim. 



Preliminary Note. 



The mist of obscurity which for so long a period veiled the affini- 

 ties of Stylops, has also extended to those of the flea : but there is 



* Since the above was written, I find that the hemigynous insects require a more 

 careful examination than I had found leisure to bestow on them, and it will not be 

 desirable to delay the publication of these preliminary observations until the examina- 

 tion shall be more complete. 



