46 
Psyche 
[March 
ejected several cylindrical pellets, instead of drops of 
saliva. It is probable, however, that Shiperovitsh did not 
examine the drops until they had hardened. This particular 
type of bribery on the part of the male is, I believe, unique 
among* all the insects, inasmuch as it involves a product of 
the digestive system. But the dipterous family Empidse 
is famous for the peculiar tactics employed by the males, 
who offer the females particles of food as a preliminary to 
mating, although some degenerate and more modernistic 
species have reduced their gifts to inedible debris, such as 
small pebbles and bits of wood. In a very different group 
of insects, the cockroaches, we find another instance, more 
unlike that of the Panorpas. The males of (Ecanthus, as 
shown by Hancock, possess a gland in the center of the 
metanotum, which secretes a fluid apparently much desired 
by the female. Just before actually mating the female 
climbs on the male’s back and inserts her mouth at this 
gland, devouring the secretion ravenously. Unlike the 
condition in Panorpa, the feeding must end before copu- 
lation begins. 
The mating habits of the other genera of Panorpidse be- 
sides Panorpa are not known sufficiently to enable us to 
determine whether on not the males employ similar devices 
during courtship. Tillyard has made a few observations 
on the Australian genus Chorista, but has mentioned no 
such tactics. “If a male and a female be put alive into a 
glass tube, the male at once seizes the female fiercely with 
his anal forceps, taking hold of her in any position hap- 
hazard. He then quickly moves his appendages to the pos- 
terior end of the body of the female, opening his forceps 
to a great width, and then closing them quickly upon the 
tip of the abdomen. The result is a lock-grip, the two 
insects facing opposite directions. When once the male 
has got his correct hold, no amount of annoyance will per- 
suade him to let go.” 
The Bittacidse have apparently not developed any special- 
ized habits in connection with mating; at least, no one has 
recorded such behavior. Mercier, however, mentions inci- 
dentally that the males of Bittacus present the females 
