PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 309, 25 September 1919, Page 3

PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

PAPER ON SEXUAL SELECTION OP 'INSECTS. At last nighfs meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society, Mr. G. V. Hudson, F.E.S., read a paper on "Soma examples of New Zealand insects, illustrating the Darwinian principle-of sexual selection." Mr. Hudson said that the strongest, most vigorous, and most beautiful males were in general selected by the females, and left descendants inheriting theso qualities. In some eases the males alone, but in moat eases both' sexes, had inherited tho sterling qualities thus acquired through saxual selection. The courtship of insccts was usually a prolonged -affair, and as the mates were gem-rally more numerous than the females a selection must take place, and seeing that this could hardly happen by chance, the female's choice would fal'l upon the malo whose strength, brilliancy, beauty, or general attractiveness most impressed her. Tt was known from numerous experiments that insects were able to discriminate between colours and between different individuals of their own species, and it was thus a legitimate as-' sumption that the female would select the male most pleasing to her. Tho song of the males of the weW-known cicada or singer, the great head and iaws of the main weta, the chirping of the males of '•■rickets and grasshoppers, were all shown to l)c inteHigibli! as the result of sexual selection. Tho nuptial dances of the mayllies, often seen by anglers over rivers shortly before sunset, were mentioned, and their appearance as seen through the multiplo eyes of those insects described. The srweial clours and perfume of malo butterflies nnd moths were fully dcsvrib'd and their nsa in courtship. The heavily liaunched antennne in certain malo moths wore shown to be associated with females of retiring habits, and it was practically certain tlmt these males were enabled to trace the females at remote) distances by means of a special sense located in the antennae, pnrbnblv of the nature of wireless telepathy. The extraordinary processes on tho backs of many male beetles, and the enormous lwak of our largest native weevil, Lnsiorhynchus barbicomis, were also shown to havo been evolved through sexual selection. in conclusion, Mr. Hudson said this principle had slaved a most important part in tho evolution of man, especially in regard to the nobler faculties, and he considered it would bo oven more important in the future. He contended that in a more natural and unrestrained social condition n woman should be freo ti, select a man lor a husband who fulfilled her highest ideals, and that tho diseased, depraved, or degenerate, whether wea.iithy or otherwise, should in this way bo prevented from leaving descendants.