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“We have seen that owing to the resistance of the air the expanse of wing is distorted in various directions by atmospheric resistance. Now, as the oscillations during flight are executed in a horizontal plane, the obliquity of the wing-surface ought to diminish the apparent breadth of the wing. This appearance can be seen in Fig. 167. There is here a comparison between two Tipulæ: the one in the act of flight, the other perfectly motionless and resting against the glass window.

Fig. 167.—Illustration to show two Tipulæ, one of them remaining motionless on the glass, and the other moving its limbs in different directions, and setting its body at various inclinations: the illustration only represents a small part of a long series.—After Marey.

“The motionless insect maintains its wings in a position of vertical extension; the plane is therefore at right angles to the axis of the object-glass. The breadth of the wing can be seen in its entirety; the nervures can be counted, and the rounding off of the extremities of the wings is perfectly obvious. On the other hand, the flying insect moves its wings in a horizontal direction, and owing to the resistance of the air the expanse of the wings is obliquely disposed, and only the projection of its surface can be seen in the photograph. This is why the extremity of the wings appears as if it were pointed, while the other parts look much narrower than normal. The extent of the obliquity can be measured from the apparent alteration in width, for the projection of this plane with the vertical is the sine of the angle. From this it may be gathered that the right wing (Fig. 168, third image) was inclined at an angle of about 50° with the vertical, say 40° with the horizontal. This inclination necessarily varies at different points of the trajectory and must augment with the rapidity of movement; the obliquity reaching its maximum in those portions of the wings which move with the greatest velocity, namely, towards the extremities. The result is that the wing becomes twisted at certain periods of the movement.” (See the fourth image in Fig. 168.) The position of the balancers seems to vary according to that of the wings. (Marey’s Movement, pp. 253–257.)