STATES OF INSECTS. 323 



male sex, those of the females being generally compa- 

 ratively naked. If you take the common gnat, you will 

 find that the antennae of one individual are thickly fringed 

 on each side, and tufted at the end with fine long hairs, 

 while in the other only four or five placed at intervals in 

 a whorl are to be perceived a . In Chironomus Meig., a 

 kind of Tipida L., resembling a gnat, the male antennae 

 are beset on all sides with the finest hairs, and resemble 

 a beautiful plume b , while the females to the unarmed 

 eye appear naked. Even in some Hyfnenoptera, the an- 

 tennae of the males are thus feathered, in a less degree : 

 for instance, in Hylotoma Latr. c Whether the tufts 

 and fringes which ornament, in a remarkable manner, 

 the antennae of many Cerambycidm d , are sexual charac- 

 ters, is not certainly known. 



We are now to consider other sexual differences in 

 these organs, resulting from the size or configuration of 

 one or more individual joints. To begin with the first 

 joint, or scapus. In many of the Hymenoptera, particu- 

 larly the Anthophila Latr., this is elongated, and the re- 

 maining joints form an angle with it in the females : while 

 in the other sex it is much shorter, and in the same line 

 with the rest of the antennae ; and in Hylceus dilatatus 

 (Melitta dilatata Kirby) the first joint in the male is di- 

 lated and shaped something like a patella e . In Mala- 

 chins bipustulatus, &c. the sex just mentioned is pecu- 

 liarly distinguished by a white excrescence on the first 



a Reaum. iv. t. xl./. 2. a a. 3 . t. xxxix./. 3. $ . In the last the 

 hairs are too conspicuous. 



b Plate XII. Fig. 24. c Jurine Uj/menopt. t. vi.f, 3 



* Plate XII. Fig. 25, 26. XXV. Fig. 17, 32? 

 e Ibid. Fig. 12. 



Y 2 



