222 Studies in Animal Behavior 



they failed to approach the vicinity of the female. 

 The presence of other odors, which would make an 

 almost intolerable stench in our own nostrils, failed 

 to deter the males in the least from the object of 

 their search. The odor, according to Fabre, seemed 

 to be carried against currents of air, for a rare 

 female specimen of the Lesser Peacock drew numer- 

 ous males which flew with the wind to the place of 

 her confinement. It is scarcely to be wondered at 

 that Fabre considered the sense of smell to depend 

 in part on other means than the wafting of odorous 

 particles, a sort of force acting after the manner of 

 rays of light or X-rays and capable of radiating to 

 a great distance despite adverse currents of air. 



The role of smell in sex recognition among the 

 crustaceans is more uncertain. The antennal sense 

 organs which are very probably olfactory in function 

 are in some species much better developed in the 

 male sex. But little is known, however, in regard to 

 the means by which most species find their mates. 

 In some amphipod crustaceans with which the writer 

 experimented a few years ago olfactory stimuli were 

 found to play little or no part in the discrimination 

 of sex. The males of this group have the curious 

 habit of carrying the females about under the body. 

 This act of transportation has no direct reference to 

 the impregnation of the eggs further than to insure 

 the proximity of the sexes when the proper time for 

 fertilization arrives. This occurs soon after the fe- 

 male casts off her skin, when the sperms are depos- 



