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Show 052 SEXUAL SELECTION. PART II. soon us the first had finished his song, a second immediately began; and after he had conc!uded, another began, and so on. As there is so much nvalry betwe~n the males, it is probable that the females no~ only discover them by the sounds emitted, but that, like .female bir<ls, they are excited or allured by the male with the most attractive voice. I have not found any well-marked cases of orna-mental differences between the sexes of the Homop~e:a· 1\Ir. Douglas informs me that there are thre~ Bntish species, in which the male is black or marked mth black bands, whilst the females are pale-coloured or obscure. Order, Orthoptera.-Tbe males in the three saltatorial families belonging to this Order are r~markab] e for their musical powers, namely the Achetidre or crickets, the Locustidre for which there is no exact equivalent name in English, and the Acridiidre or grasshoppers. The stridulation . produced by some . of the Locustidm is so loud that 1t can be heard durmg the nio-ht at the distance of a mile ;25 and that made by ce~tain species is not unmusical even to the human ear, so that the Indians on the Amazons keep them in wicker cages. All observers agree that the sound.s serve either to call or excjte the mute females. But It has been noticed 2a that the male migratory locust of Russia (one of the Acridiidoo) whilst coupled with the female, stridulates from anger or jealousy when approached by another male. The bouse-cricket when surprised at night uses its voice to warn its fellows.27 In North America the Katy-did (Platyphyllum concavum, ~s L. Guilding, 'Trun.sact. Linn. So?.' vol. xv. ~· 154-. _ ~s Koppen, us quoted m the' Zoolog10al Record!. for 1~61, p. 460. ~7 Gilbert White, 'Nnt. Hist. of Selborne,' vol. u. 182:.>, p. 262. CHAP. :X:. ORTHOPTERA • . 353 one of the Locustidro) is described 28 as mountinO' on the upper branches of a tree, and in the evening b;ginning " his noisy babble, while rival notes issue from the neiO'b" bom·ing trees, and the groves resouud with the call of " Kat¥-did-she-clid, the live-long night." · Mr. Bates, in spealnng of the European field-cricket (one of the Achetidoo), says, "the male has been observed to place itself " in the evening at the entrance of its burrow, and " stridulate until a female approaches, when the louder " notes are succeeded by a more subdued tone, whilst "the successful musician caresses with his antennoo " the mate be has won." 29 Dr. Scudder was able to excite one of these insects to answer him, by rubbing on a file with a quill.30 In both sexes a remarkable auditory apparatus has been discovered by Von Siebold, situated in the front legs.31 In the three Families .ir the SOUnds are differently Fig. 10. Gryllus campestrls (from Landois). produced. In the males of Right-hand figure, under side of part of the the Acheti'd b tl . wlng-nervure, much magnified, showing 00 0 l Wing- the teeth, st. . h h Left-h~nd figure, upper surface of wing-cover, COVelS ave t e Same With the projecting, smooth nervure, r., structure ; and this in the across which the teeth (st) are scraped. field-cricket (Gryllus campesiris, fig. 10) consists, as de- 2S Harris, 'Insects of New En.,.land' 1842 p 128 29 'Th . "' ' ' . . . e Na~urahst on the Amazons,' vol. i. 1863, p. 252. MJ.·. Bates g1ves a very mteresting discussion on the gradations in the musi 1 app~~atus of the three families. See also West wood 'Modern Cia~; vol. 11. p. 445 and 453. ' s. 30 'Proc. Boston Soc. of Nat. Hist.' vol xi April 1868 p. ~6;~ouveau Manuel d':Anat. Comp.' (Fre~ch tra~slat.); tom. i. 1850 VOL. I. 2 .a |
