318 STATES OF INSECTS. 



length, have only three joints, and are not tufted. Whe- 

 ther the labial palpi in any genus differ in the sexes, I 

 cannot affirm with certainty : I have not, however, ob- 

 served any such variation in them. 



I shall next mention some organs of the head, in which 

 the difference between the sexes is often very striking 

 and peculiar. You will readily conjecture that I am 

 speaking of the antenna. And here the advantage seems 

 wholly on the side of the males : since in them these 

 wonderful instruments of unknown sensations are not 

 only more complex, but usually more elegant, than 

 those of the other sex. You will pardon me, therefore, 

 if I enlarge a little more than ordinary upon a subject so 

 full of interest, and say something upon the differences 

 observable between the sexes — in the shape, magnitude, 

 and length, number of articulations, ramification and 

 plumage, and individual joints of their antennae. 



With regard to their shape, variations are sometimes 

 observable between the antennas of the sexes; but this 

 principally occurs in the Hymenoptera order, For in- 

 stance, those of Chelostoma maxillosa, a small bee that 

 deposits its eggs in little holes in posts and rails, are cla- 

 vate in the female and filiform in the male a — a circum- 

 stance that distinguishes in some degree those of Sphe- 

 codes, Halictus, and Andrena of Latreille, three other 

 genera of wild-bees b . In Dinetus Jur. the male antennae 

 are moniliform at the base, and filiform at the apex ; the 

 female, on the contrary, are entirely filiform c . 



a Mon. Ap. Angl. i. Apis **. c. 2. y. t. ix.f. 7. 5 . 9. $. 



b Ibid. Melitta •*. a. t, ii./. 8. $ . 9. S . and **. b. t. ni.f. 6. 5 . 



7. <?. **. c t. iv.f. 11. 5 . 12. <?. 

 e Jurine Hymenopt. t.ll.f.2, 



