The Descent of Man

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by Charles Darwin

383 ‘Ibis,’ vol. ii. p. 260, as quoted in Gould’s ‘Trochilidæ,’ 1861, p. 52. For the foregoing proportions, I am indebted to Mr. Salvin for a table of his results.

  384 ‘Ibis,’ 1860, p. 137; and 1867, p. 369.

  385 ‘Ibis,’ 1862, p. 137.

  386 Leuckart quotes Bloch (Wagner, ‘Handwörterbuch der Phys.’ B. iv. 1853, s. 775), that with fish there are twice as many males as females.

  387 Quoted in the ‘Farmer,’ March 18, 1869, p. 369.

  388 ‘The Stormontfield Piscicultural Experiments,’ 1866, p. 23. The 'Field’ newspaper, June 29th, 1867.

  389 ‘Land and Water,’ 1868, p. 41.

  390 Yarrell, ‘Hist. British Fishes,’ vol. i. 1836, p. 307; on the Cyprinus carpio, p. 331; on the Tinca vulgaris, p. 331; on the Abramis brama, p. 336. See, for the minnow (Leuciscus phoxinus), ‘Loudon’s Mag. of Nat. Hist.’ vol. v. 1832, p. 682.

  391 Leuckart quotes Meinecke (Wagner, ‘Handwörterbuch der Phys.’ B. iv. 1853, s. 775) that with Butterflies the males are three or four times as numerous as the females.

  392 ‘The Naturalist on the Amazons,’ vol. ii. 1863, p. 228, 347.

  393 Four of these cases are given by Mr. Trimen in his ‘Rhopalocera Africæ Australis.’

  394 Quoted by Trimen, ‘Transact. Ent. Soc.’ vol. v. part iv. 1866, p. 330.

  395 ‘Transact. Linn. Soc.’ vol. xxv. p. 37.

  396 ‘Proc. Entomolog. Soc.’ Feb. 17th, 1868.

  397 Quoted by Dr. Wallace in ‘Proc. Ent. Soc.’ 3rd series, vol. v. 1867, p. 487.

  398 Blanchard, ‘Metamorphoses, Mœurs des Insectes,’ 1868, p. 225-226.

  399 ‘Lepidopteren-Doubblettren Liste,’ Berlin, No. x. 1866.

  400 This naturalist has been so kind as to send me some results from former years, in which the females seemed to preponderate; but so many of the figures were estimates, that I found it impossible to tabulate them.

  401 Günther’s ‘Record of Zoological Literature,’ 1867, p. 260. On the excess of female Lucanus, ibid. p. 250. On the males of Lucanus in England, Westwood, ‘Modern Class. of Insects,’ vol. i. p. 187. On the Siagonium, ibid. p. 172.

  402 Walsh, in ‘The American Entomologist,’ vol. i. 1869, p. 103. F. Smith, 'Record of Zoological Literature,’ 1867, p. 328.

  403 ‘Farm Insects,’ p. 45-46.

  404 ‘Observations on N. American Neuroptera,’ by H. Hagen and B. D. Walsh, ‘Proc. Ent. Soc. Philadelphia,’ Oct. 1863, p. 168, 223, 239.

  405 ‘Proc. Ent. Soc. London,’ Feb. 17, 1868.

  406 Another great authority in this class, Prof. Thorell of Upsala (‘On European Spiders,’ 1869-70, part i. p. 205) speaks as if female spiders were generally commoner than the males.

  407 See, on this subject, Mr. Pickard-Cambridge, as quoted in ‘Quarterly Journal of Science,’ 1868, p. 429.

  408 I have often been struck with the fact, that in several species of Primula the seeds in the capsules which contained only a few were very much larger than the numerous seeds in the more productive capsules.

  409 ‘Principles of Biology,’ vol. ii. 1867, chaps. ii.-xi.

  410 De l’Espèce et de la Class.’ &c., 1869, p. 106.

  411 See, for instance, the account which I have given in my ‘Journal of Researches,’ 1845, p. 7.

  412 I have given (‘Geolog. Observations on Volcanic Islands,’ 1844, p. 53) a curious instance of the influence of light on the colours of a frondescent incrustation, deposited by the surf on the coast-rocks of Ascension, and formed by the solution of triturated sea-shells.

  413 ‘Facts and Arguments for Darwin,’ English translat. 1869, p. 20. See the previous discussion on the olfactory threads. Sars has described a somewhat analogous case (as quoted in ‘Nature,’ 1870, p. 455) in a Norwegian crustacean, the Pontoporeia affinis.

  414 See Sir J. Lubbock in ‘Annals. and Mag. of Nat. Hist.’ vol. xi. 1853, pl. i. and x.; and vol. xii. (1853) pl. vii. See also Lubbock in 'Transact. Ent. Soc.’ vol. iv. new series, 1856-1858, p. 8. With respect to the zigzagged antennæ mentioned below, see Fritz Müller, ‘Facts and Arguments for Darwin’ 1869, p. 40, foot-note.

  415 See a paper by Mr. C. Spence Bate, with figures, in ‘Proc. Zoolog. Soc.’ 1868, p. 363; and on the nomenclature of the genus, ibid. p. 585. I am greatly indebted to Mr. Spence Bate for nearly all the above statements with respect to the chelæ of the higher crustaceans.

  416 ‘Hist. Nat. des Crust.’ tom. ii. 1837, p. 50.

  417 Fritz Müller, ‘Facts and Arguments for Darwin,’ 1869, p. 25-28.

  418 ‘Travels in the Interior of Brazil,’ 1846, p. 111. I have given, in my ‘Journal of Researches,’ p. 463, an account of the habits of the Birgos.

  419 Mr. Ch. Fraser, in ‘Proc. Zoolog. Soc.’ 1869, p. 3. I am indebted to Mr. Bate for the statement from Dr. Power.

  420 Claus, ‘Die freilebenden Copepoden,’ 1863, s. 35.

  421 ‘Facts and Arguments,’ &c., p. 79.

  422 ‘A History of the Spiders of Great Britain,’ 1861-64. For the following facts, see p. 102, 77, 88.

  423 Aug. Vinson (‘Aranéides des Iles de la Réunion,’ pl. vi. figs. 1 and 2) gives a good instance of the small size of the male in Epeira nigra. In this species, as I may add, the male is testaceous and the female black with legs banded with red. Other even more striking cases of inequality in size between the sexes have been recorded (‘Quarterly Journal of Science,’ 1868, July, p. 429); but I have not seen the original accounts.

  424 Kirby and Spence, ‘Introduction to Entomology,’ vol. i. 1818, p. 280.

  425 Theridion (Asagena, Sund.) serratipes, 4-punctatum et guttatum; see Westring, in Kroyer, ‘Naturhist. Tidskrift,’ vol. iv. 1842-1843, p. 349; and vol. ii. 1846-1849, p. 342. See, also, for other species, 'Araneæ Svecicæ,’ p. 184.

  426 Walckenaer et P. Gervais, ‘Hist. Nat. des Insectes: Aptères,’ tom. iv. 1847, p. 17, 19, 68.

  427 Sir J. Lubbock, ‘Transact. Linnean Soc.’ vol. xxv. 1866, p. 484. With respect to the Mutillidæ see Westwood, ‘Modern Class. of Insects,’ vol. ii. p. 213.

  428 These organs in the male often differ in closely-allied species, and afford excellent specific characters. But their importance, under a functional point of view, as Mr. E. MacLachlan has remarked to me, has probably been overrated. It has been suggested, that slight differences in these organs would suffice to prevent the intercrossing of well-marked varieties or incipient species, and would thus aid in their development. That this can hardly be the case, we may infer from the many recorded cases (see for instance, Bronn, ‘Geschichte der Natur,’ B. ii. 1843, s. 164; and Westwood, ‘Transact. Ent. Soc.’ vol. iii. 1842, p. 195) of distinct species having been observed in union. Mr. MacLachlan informs me (vide ‘Stett. Ent. Zeitung,’ 1867, s. 155) that when several species of Phryganidæ, which present strongly-pronounced differences of this kind, were confined together by Dr. Aug. Meyer, they coupled, and one pair produced fertile ova.

  429 ‘The Practical Entomologist,’ Philadelphia, vol. ii. May, 1867, p. 88.

  430 Mr. Walsh, ibid. p. 107.

  431 ‘Modern Classification of Insects,’ vol. ii. 1840, p. 206, 205. Mr. Walsh, who called my attention to this double use of the jaws, says that he has repeatedly observed this fact.

  432 We have here a curious and inexplicable case of dimorphism, for some of the females of four European species of Dytiscus, and of certain species of Hydroporus, have their elytra smooth; and no intermediate gradations between sulcated or punctured and quite smooth elytra have been observed. See Dr. H. Schaum, as quoted in the ‘Zoologist,’ vol. v.-vi. 1847-48, p. 1896. Also Kirby and Spence, ‘Introduction to Entomology,’ vol. iii. 1826, p. 305.

  433 Westwood, ‘Modern Class.’ vol. ii. p. 193. The following statement about Penthe, and others in inverted commas, are taken from Mr. Walsh, ‘Practical Entomologist,’ Philadelphia, vol. ii. p. 88.

  434 Kirby and Spence, ‘Introduct.’ &c., vol. iii. p. 332-336.

  435 ‘Insecta Maderensia,’ 1854, p. 20.

  436 E. Doubl
eday, ‘Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.’ vol. i. 1848, p. 379. I may add that the wings in certain Hymenoptera (see Shuckard, 'Fossorial Hymenop.’ 1837, p. 39-43) differ in neuration according to sex.

  437 H. W. Bates, in ‘Journal of Proc. Linn. Soc.’ vol. vi. 1862, p. 74. Mr. Wonfor’s observations are quoted in ‘Popular Science Review,’ 1868, p. 343.

  438 Kirby and Spence, ‘Introduction to Entomology,’ vol. iii. p. 299.

  439 Robinet, ‘Vers à Soie,’ 1848, p. 207.

  440 ‘Transact. Ent. Soc.’ 3rd series, vol. v. p. 486.

  441 ‘Journal of Proc. Ent. Soc.’ Feb. 4th, 1867, p. lxxi.

  442 For this and other statements on the size of the sexes, see Kirby and Spence, ibid. vol. iii. p. 300; on the duration of life in insects, see p. 344.

  443 ‘Transact. Linnean Soc.’ vol. xxvi. 1868, p. 296.

  444 ‘The Malay Archipelago,’ vol. ii. 1869, p. 313.

  445 ‘Modern Classification of Insects,’ vol. ii. 1840, p. 526.

  446 See Mr. B. T. Lowne’s very interesting work, ‘On the Anatomy of the Blow-Fly, Musca vomitoria,’ 1870, p. 14.

  447 Westwood, ‘Modern Class. of Insects,’ vol. ii. p. 473.

  448 These particulars are taken from Westwood’s ‘Modern Class. of Insects,’ vol. ii. 1840, p. 422. See, also, on the Fulgoridæ, Kirby and Spence, ‘Introduct.’ vol. ii. p. 401.

  449 ‘Zeitschrift für wissenschaft. Zoolog.’ B. xvii. 1867, s. 152-158.

  450 I am indebted to Mr. Walsh for having sent me this extract from a ‘Journal of the Doings of Cicada septemdecim,’ by Dr. Hartman.

  451 L. Guilding, ‘Transact. Linn. Soc.’ vol. xv. p. 154.

  452 Köppen, as quoted in the ‘Zoological Record,’ for 1867, p. 460.

  453 Gilbert White, ‘Nat. Hist. of Selborne,’ vol. ii. 1825, p. 262.

  454 Harris, ‘Insects of New England,’ 1842, p. 128.

  455 ‘The Naturalist on the Amazons,’ vol. i. 1863, p. 252. Mr. Bates gives a very interesting discussion on the gradations in the musical apparatus of the three families. See also Westwood, ‘Modern Class.’ vol. ii. p. 445 and 453.

  456 ‘Proc. Boston Soc. of Nat. Hist.’ vol. xi. April, 1868.

  457 ‘Nouveau Manuel d’Anat. Comp.’ (French translat.), tom. i. 1850 p. 567.

  458 ‘Zeitschrift für wissenschaft. Zoolog.’ B. xvii. 1867, s. 117.

  459 Westwood, ‘Modern Class. of Insects,’ vol. i. p. 440.

  460 Westwood, ‘Modern Class. of Insects,’ vol. i. p. 453.

  461 Landois, ibid. s. 121, 122.

  462 Mr. Walsh also informs me that he has noticed that the female of the Platyphyllum concavum, “when captured makes a feeble grating noise by shuffling her wing-covers together.”

  463 Landois, ibid. s. 113.

  464 ‘Insects of New England,’ 1842, p. 133.

  465 Westwood, ‘Modern Classification,’ vol. i. p. 462.

  466 Westwood, ibid. vol. i. p. 453.

  467 Landois, ibid. s. 115, 116, 120, 122.

  468 ‘Transact. Ent. Soc.’ 3rd series, vol. ii. (‘Journal of Proceedings, p. 117.)

  469 Westwood, ‘Modern Class. of Insects,’ vol. i. p. 427; for crickets, p. 445.

  470 Mr. Ch. Horne, in ‘Proc. Ent. Soc.’ May 3, 1869, p. xii.

  471 The Oecanthus nivalis, Harris, ‘Insects of New England,’ 1842, p. 124.

  472 Platyblemnus: Westwood, ‘Modern. Class.’ vol. i. p. 447.

  473 B. D. Walsh, the Pseudo-neuroptera of Illinois, in ‘Proc. Ent. Soc. of Philadelphia,’ 1862, p. 361.

  474 ‘Modern Class.’ vol. ii. p. 37.

  475 Walsh, ibid. p. 381. I am indebted to this naturalist for the following facts on Hetærina, Anax, and Gomphus.

  476 ‘Transact. Ent. Soc’ vol. i. 1836, p. lxxxi.

  477 See abstract in the ‘Zoological Record’ for 1867, p. 450.

  478 Kirby and Spence, ‘Introduct. to Entomology,’ vol. ii. 1818, p. 35.

  479 See an interesting article, “The Writings of Fabre,” in ‘Nat. Hist. Review,’ April, 1862, p. 122.

  480 ‘Journal of Proc. of Entomolog. Soc.’ Sept. 7th, 1863, p. 169.

  481 P. Huber, ‘Recherches sur les Mœurs des Fourmis,’ 1810, p. 150, 165.

  482 ‘Proc. Entomolog. Soc. of Philadelphia,’ 1866, p. 238-239.

  483 Quoted by Westwood, ‘Modern Class. of Insects,’ vol. ii. p. 214.

  484 Pyrodes pulcherrimus, in which the sexes differ conspicuously, has been described by Mr. Bates in ‘Transact. Ent. Soc.’ 1869, p. 50. I will specify the few other cases in which I have heard of a difference in colour between the sexes of beetles. Kirby and Spence (‘Introduct. to Entomology,’ vol. iii. p. 301) mention a Cantharis, Meloe, Rhagium, and the Leptura testacea; the male of the latter being testaceous, with a black thorax, and the female of a dull red all over. These two latter beetles belong to the Order of Longicorns. Messrs. R. Trimen and Waterhouse, junr., inform me of two Lamellicorns, viz., a Peritrichia and Trichius, the male of the latter being more obscurely coloured than the female. In Tillus elongatus the male is black, and the female always, as it is believed, of a dark blue colour with a red thorax. The male, also, of Orsodacna atra, as I hear from Mr. Walsh, is black, the female (the so-called O. ruficollis) having a rufous thorax.

  485 ‘Proc. Entomolog. Soc. of Philadelphia,’ 1864, p. 228.

  486 Kirby and Spence, ‘Introduct. Entomolog.’ vol. iii. p. 300.

  487 Kirby and Spence, ibid. vol. iii. p. 329.

  488 ‘Modern Classification of Insects,’ vol. i. p. 172. On the same page there is an account of Siagonium. In the British Museum I noticed one male specimen of Siagonium in an intermediate condition, so that the dimorphism is not strict.

  489 ‘The Malay Archipelago,’ vol. ii. 1869, p. 276.

  490 ‘Entomological Magazine,’ vol. i. 1833, p. 82. See also on the conflicts of this species, Kirby and Spence, ibid. vol. iii. p. 314; and Westwood, ibid. vol. i. p. 187.

  491 Quoted from Fischer, in ‘Dict. Class. d’Hist. Nat.’ tom. x. p. 324.

  492 ‘Ann. Soc. Entomolog. France,’ 1866, as quoted in ‘Journal of Travel,’ by A. Murray, 1868, p. 135.

  493 Westwood, ‘Modern Class.’ vol. i. p. 184.

  494 Wollaston, On certain musical Curculionidæ, ‘Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.’ vol. vi. 1860, p. 14.

  495 ‘Zeitschrift für wiss. Zoolog.’ B. xvii. 1867, s. 127.

  496 I am greatly indebted to Mr. G. R. Crotch for having sent me numerous prepared specimens of various beetles belonging to these three families and others, as well as for valuable information of all kinds. He believes that the power of stridulation in the Clythra has not been previously observed. I am also much indebted to Mr. E. W. Janson, for information and specimens. I may add that my son, Mr. F. Darwin, finds that Dermestes murinus stridulates, but he searched in vain for the apparatus. Scolytus has lately been described by Mr. Algen as a stridulator, in the ‘Edinburgh Monthly Magazine,’ 1869, Nov., p. 130.

  497 Schiödte, translated in ‘Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.’ vol. xx. 1867, p. 37.

  498 Westring has described (Kroyer, ‘Naturhist. Tidskrift,’ B. ii. 1848-49, p. 334) the stridulating organs in these two, as well as in other families. In the Carabidæ I have examined Elaphrus uliginosus and Blethisa multipunctata, sent to me by Mr. Crotch. In Blethisa the transverse ridges on the furrowed border of the abdominal segment do not come into play, as far as I could judge, in scraping the rasps on the elytra.

  499 I am indebted to Mr. Walsh, of Illinois, for having sent me extracts from Leconte’s ‘Introduction to Entomology,’ p. 101, 143.

  500 M. P. de la Brulerie, as quoted in ‘Journal of Travel,’ A. Murray, vol. i. 1868, p. 135.

  501 Mr. Doubleday informs me that “the noise is produced by the insect raising itself on its legs as high as it can, and then sinking its thorax five or six times, in rapid succession, against the substance upon which it is sitting.” For references on this subject see Landois, 'Zeitschrift für wissen. Zoolog
.’ B. xvii. s. 131. Olivier says (as quoted by Kirby and Spence, ‘Introduct.’ vol. ii. p. 395) that the female of Pimelia striata produces a rather loud sound by striking her abdomen against any hard substance, “and that the male, obedient to this call, soon attends her and they pair.”

  502 Apatura Iris: ‘The Entomologist’s Weekly Intelligencer,’ 1859, p. 139. For the Bornean Butterflies see C. Collingwood, ‘Rambles of a Naturalist,’ 1868, p. 183.

  503 See my ‘Journal of Researches,’ 1845, p. 33. Mr. Doubleday has detected (‘Proc. Ent. Soc.’ March 3rd, 1845, p. 123) a peculiar membranous sac at the base of the front wings, which is probably connected with the production of the sound.

 

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