C. H. TURNER AND E. SCHWARZ. 



In June, 1914, we made an attempt to see if, in the field, moths 

 could be trained to respond to sounds to which they do not 

 normally respond. We knew that this can be done in the labora- 

 tory. Our experience the year before had informed us that 

 most Catocalae do not respond to sounds of a low pitch. We 

 selected an organ pipe giving 256 vibrations per second. This 

 was sounded several times and if the moth did not respond it 

 was sounded again and simultaneously one of us touched the 

 moth with a brush. We then followed the moth to its next 

 resting place and sounded it again, and if necessary, repeated 

 it over and over. 



For these experiments we used; C. arnica, C. epione, C. neo- 

 gamma, C. ilia, and C. innubens. With innubens and epione all 

 results were negative. We found two specimens of ilia which 

 responded to the sound of the pipe before they had been touched 

 in any manner and one that did not so respond. This response 

 from ilia was unexpected, but it militated against using it for 

 these experiments. We succeeded in inducing one specimen of 

 arnica to respond to the pitch; but failed completely w r ith two 

 others. We experimented with five specimens of C. neogama, 

 all males. We induced three individuals of neogama to respond 

 to the sound of the organ pipe; but failed with two others. 

 Although the cases in which we succeeded in inducing the moths 

 to respond to sounds to which they do not usually react are few, 

 the fact that we did succeed in a few cases supports our conten- 

 tion that these insects respond only to sounds that have a life 

 significance. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



1. Our field experiments demonstrate that several different 

 species of Catocala moths respond to certain high pitched notes 

 of the Galton whistle; but that they usually do not respond to 

 sounds of low pitch, such as the rumbling of trains, etc. 



2. Most specimens responded to those high notes by flying 

 to a nearby tree; but some, and this was especially true of 

 Catocala relicta, responded by making quivering movements with 

 its wings. 



3. The degree of responsiveness was not the same in all species. 

 Among the least responsive were C. vidua and C. neogama; at 

 the other extreme were C. flebilis, C. liabilis, and C. robinsoni. 



