12 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



[January 



read a paper, contributed by the Rev. W. F. Johnson — " A Further List of the Irish 

 Staphylinidce," compiled in 1889. The Secretary read two contributions from Mr. T. 

 D. A. Cockerell — " Hybrids and Mongrels," and " Do the Colours of Living Insects 

 Fade ? " — H. W. Barker, Hon. Secretary. 



THE ORIGIN AND LOSS OF THE WINGS OF INSECTS, 

 By LINN.EUS GREENING, 

 (A paper read before the Warrington Field Club, 20th Dec., 1889.) 



Part i. — The Origin of Insects' Wings. 



It may not be out of place to-night, seeing that this meeting is 

 specially set apart for entomological purposes, to say a few words on 

 one of the most curious points of entomology, viz., the origin and loss 

 of the wings of insects. My attention was first called to this particular 

 point by those forms known as apterous females, more especially those 

 of our British Lepidoptera. It is I think more easy to account for 

 the loss of wings than for their origin ; however, I will lay before you 

 as clearly as I can, such facts as are known and the inferences that 

 seem to be fairly deducible from them, and will ask those who are 

 familiar with the subject to help to elucidate this problem in Natural 

 History. 



To those who are mere collectors of insects (and of such I hope 

 we have none in our club) the question of the origin and loss of wings 

 will seem of little moment ; but to those who want to know, the how 

 and the why of things, it will surely be one of the deepest interest. 

 Before we enquire how, and why, what are known as apterous or 

 wingless insects have come into existence, we must have some notion 

 of the origin of the wings, and on this point the metamorphosis, 

 through which the majority of insects pass, throws much light and 

 gives invaluable hints for the solution of the problem. 



Away then far in the remote past we must look for the ancestors 

 not only of our gorgeous butterflies but of all the other wondrous 

 forms of the Arthropoda. Of course if we go far enough back, we 

 find that there was a time when no land animals or plants existed ; 

 but it must be ever remembered that even in that far off past, amongst 

 those lowly aquatic organisms, the struggle for existence went on just 



