34-2 STATES OF INSECTS. 



sham has considered them (the sexes both of F. auncu- 

 laria and F. minor) as distinct species. 



The tail of some species of the genus Ephemera is fur- 

 nished with three long, jointed, hairy bristles. We learn 

 from Reaumur with respect to one, that though in the 

 female these are all equal in length, yet in the male there 

 is only a rudiment of the third. On the belly near the 

 anus these males have four fleshy appendages, the poste- 

 rior ones setaceous and long, and the anterior pair fili- 

 form and shorter. They are supposed to represent the 

 anal forceps of other insects a . In Ephemera vulgata, 

 described by De Geer, both sexes have three bristles, 

 but those of the male are the longest ; and he describes 

 the forceps as consisting of only a pair of jointed pieces, 

 forming a bow not unlike the forceps of an earwig b . 



v. All the differences I have hitherto noticed between 

 the sexes of insects occur in their bodily structure ; but 

 there are others of a somewhat higher description ob- 

 servable in their character. You may smile at the idea 

 of character in beings so minute; but if you recollect what 

 I formerly related to you when treating upon the socie- 

 ties of insects, you will allow that something of this kind 

 does take place amongst them. In general the males are 

 more fatted for locomotion and more locomotive; and 

 the females, on the contrary, are necessarily more sta- 

 tionary. And this for an obvious reason : — the law is, 

 that the male shall seek the female, and therefore he is 

 peculiarly gifted for this purpose, both in his organs of 

 sensation and motion : while his partner in many cases 

 has very simple antennae, he has very complex ones; and 



* Reaum. vi. 494. t. xliv./ 3—11. * De Geer ii. t. xvii./. 5—7- 



