THE MALES, 
89 
THE MALES. 
One noticeable cbaracteristic of tbis sex is tlie com- 
parative small size of the abdominal region. This is 
to be accounted for by the fact that the testes^ which 
occupy the larger portion of the abdomen, are con- 
siderably less bulky than the ovarian chambers of the 
females. In some species the males are very diminu- 
tive, but in others the great expanse and breadth of 
wing add much to their apparent size. Their long 
antennse, compound eyes, and stemmata assist them 
in their active search for their mates. Usually they 
assume brighter colours than the females, and have 
fine orange or ferruginous hues strongly marked with 
brown or black bars and spots. The organs of the 
mouth are perfect, and the males show no departure 
from the usual wing neuration of the winged females. 
Unfortunately, much confusion has arisen from a 
neglect of the dissecting needle before deciding upon 
the sexes of Aphides. Variation from both the winged 
and apterous females as to size and colour has often 
led to the assertion that such varieties were males, and 
in the densely crowded colonies where the insects 
literally crawl on each other, union of the sexes has 
been assumed without adequate proof. 
The males may be either alate or apterous, but the 
former condition is by much the most common. Mr. 
Walker says that the males of Callijpterus tilice^ Ohaito- 
jphorus salicivora^ and Aphis pruni are wingless.* If this 
be so it would appear that some species of Aphides have 
both apterous and alate males. It can be proved by 
dissection that some alate forms of Callipterus tilice and 
Hyalopterus pruni are males. On the authority of 
Bonnet and Kaltenbach the male of Lachnus quercus is 
apterous. Leuckardt says that the male of Aphis padi 
is apterous, but that that sex is winged in Schizoneura 
corni. It is to be remarked that in the family CoccidcB 
Walker, ‘Ann. Nat. Hist./ ser. 2, vol. i, pp. 333, 453, &c, ; also 
Kalt,, op. cit., p. 166. 
