Some moths also produce sounds; for instance, the males of Thecophora fovea. On two occasions Mr. F. Buchanan White[1] heard a sharp quick noise made by the male of Hylophila prasinana, and which he believes to be produced, as in Cicada, by an elastic membrane, furnished with a muscle. He quotes, also, Guenée, that Setina produces a sound like the ticking of a watch, apparently by the aid of "two large tympaniform vesicles, situated in the pectoral region;" and these "are much more developed in the male than in the female." Hence the sound-producing organs in the Lepidoptera appear to stand in some relation with the sexual functions. I have not alluded to the well-known noise made by the Death's Head Sphinx, for it is generally heard soon after the moth has emerged from its cocoon.
Girard has always observed that the musky odour, which is emitted by two species of Sphinx moths, is peculiar to the males;[2] and in the higher classes we shall meet with many instances of the males alone being odoriferous.
Every one must have admired the extreme beauty of many butterflies and of some moths; and it may be asked, are their colours and diversified patterns the result of the direct action of the physical conditions to which these insects have been exposed, without any benefit being thus derived? Or have successive variations been accumulated and determined as a protection, or for some unknown purpose, or that one sex may be attractive to the other? And, again, what is the meaning of the colours being widely different in the males and females of certain species, and alike in the two sexes of other species of the same genus? Before attempting to answer these questions a body of facts must be given.
With our beautiful English butterflies, the admiral, peacock, and painted lady (Vanessæ), as well as many others, the sexes are alike. This is also the case with the magnificent Heliconidæ, and most of the Danaidæ in the tropics. But in certain other tropical groups, and in some of our English butterflies, as the purple emperor, orange-tip, &c. (Apatura Iris and Anthocharis cardamines), the sexes differ either greatly or slightly in colour. No language suffices to describe the splendour of the males of
- ↑ 'The Scottish Naturalist,' July 1872, p. 213.
- ↑ 'Zoological Record,' 1869, p. 347.
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. For the case of Thecophora, see 'Zoological Record,' 1869, p. 401. For Mr. Buchanan White's observations, 'The Scottish Naturalist,' July 1872, p. 214.
