A Text-book of Entomology: Including the Anatomy, Physiology, Embryology and Metamorphoses of Insects for Use in Agricultural and Technical Schools and Colleges as Well as by the Working EntomologistPackard, A. S. (Alpheus Spring)
Science
A Text-book of Entomology: Including the Anatomy, Physiology, Embryology and Metamorphoses of Insects for Use in Agricultural and Technical Schools and Colleges as Well as by the Working Entomologist
Packard, A. S. (Alpheus Spring)
Insects
Spuler, however, claims that the differentiation of colors and markings
do not follow one another, but arise simultaneously, and that his view
is confirmed by Fischer. This may be the case with the highly
specialized and diversely marked butterflies, but certainly taking the
Lepidoptera as a whole the yellows and drabs must have been the
primitive hues, the other colors being gradually added in the later more
specialized forms.
It is noticeable that the most generalized moths, such as the species of
Micropteryx, Tinea, Psychidæ, Hepialidæ (in general), etc., are dull
brown or yellow-drab without bars, stripes, or spots of bright hues.
These shades prevail in others of the more primitive Lepidoptera, such
as many bombycine moths, and they even appear to a slight extent in
certain caddis-flies. The authors mentioned, especially Mayer, whom we
quote, claim that “dull ochre-yellows and drabs are, phylogenetically
speaking, the oldest pigmental colors in the Lepidoptera; for these are
the colors that are assumed by the hæmolymph upon mere exposure to the
air. The more brilliant pigmental colors, such as bright yellow, reds,
greens, etc., are derived by more complex chemical processes. We find
that dull ochre-yellow and drabs are at the present day the prevalent
colors among the less differentiated nocturnal moths. The diurnal forms
of Lepidoptera have almost a monopoly of the brilliant colorations, but
even in these diurnal forms one finds that dull yellow or drab colors
are still quite common upon those parts of their wings that are hidden
from view.”
The more primitive moths being more or less uniformly yellowish or drab,
the next step was the formation of bars, stripes, finally spots, and
eyed spots, these markings in the later forms appearing simultaneously
in one and the same species of certain highly specialized moths and
butterflies. All that has been said will prepare the reader for the
consideration of the subject of insect coloration. The origin of such
markings has been discussed by Weismann, Eimer, Haase, Dixey, Fischer,
and others.
LITERATURE
=Heer, O.= Einfluss des Alpenklimas auf die Farbe der Insecten.
(Froebel u. Heer, Mitth. aus dem Gebiete der theoret. Erdkunde,
1836, i, pp. 161–170.)
=Goureau.= Mémoire sur l’irisation des ailes des insectes. (Ann. Soc.
Ent. France, 2 sér., i, 1848, pp. 201–215.)
=Laboulbène, A., et M. Follin.= Note sur la matière pulvérulente qui
recouvre la surface du corps des Lixus et de quelques autres
insectes. (Ann. Soc. Ent. de France, 1848, vi, pp. 301–305, Fig.)
=Coquerel, Ch.= Note sur la prétendue poussière cryptogamique qui
recouvre le corps de certains insectes. (Ann. Soc. Ent. France,
1850, viii, pp. 13–15.)
=Brauer, F.= Beobachtungen in Bezug auf den Farbenwechsel bei
_Chrysopa vulgaris_. (Verhandl. k. k. zool.-botan. Gesellsch. Wien.,
1852, pp. 12–14.)
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