56 Papers from the Marine Biological Laboratory at Tortugas. 



and observers have claimed that the adornment of the male or of the female 

 was a factor in the selection of the other sex. This manner of viewing the 

 case was seriously questioned by some interesting experiments performed 

 by Mayer in 1900.^ A number of female moths were placed in an open- 

 mouth glass jar covered by netting and five males when liberated 100 feet 

 away flew to the jar. The experiment was then repeated with the jar in- 

 verted, so as to close the opening. This time the males did not approach, 

 although the females were visible through the glass. It thus appears that 

 the male moth finds the female by the sense of smell rather than the sense 

 of sight. Other females were inclosed in a box with an open chimney, and 

 the males flew to the chimney, although the females were not visible. When 

 abdomens of females were cut off, the males would fly to these rather than 

 to the winged bodies. If the antennae of the male be removed he does not 

 go to the female. 



Mayer also glued the wings of a male over the wings of a female, so that 

 she appeared like a male ; nevertheless she was found by a male and mated 

 with normally. Males would pay no attention to other males with female 

 wings, but would pair readily with a female both of whose wings had been 

 cut away. 



In all of these experiments, however, the male and female were in 

 healthy conditions during mating, so that they were capable of movement 

 or actions by which the sexes might e.xcite one another. Dr. Mayer informs 

 me that during his experience a male would not mate witli a fatally muti- 

 lated or dying female. 



I wished to conduct an experiment that would eliminate the possibility of 

 anything like a courtship or psychical action between the sexes. Since it 

 seems to be the odor of the abdomen of the female that first attracts the 

 male, I concluded to make papier-mache imitation females and smear the 

 abdomen of these with juices from the abdomen of mature females ; then, 

 on caging a number of males with these imitation females, pairing might 

 take place. The papier-mache imitations could not be obtained, however, 

 so this experiment was abandoned, though it is probably well worth trying 

 with a number of insects. 



It was then decided to construct an artificial female by fastening a por- 

 tion of the abdomen of a mature female Aplopus on to a small stick. A 

 Suriana stick was cut that approximated in thickness the female's body and 

 supported on six wire legs. One end of the stick was trimmed to a conical 

 point and the abdomen of a female minus the first segment was pushed on 

 over this conical end and made fast by winding thread about it. An ab- 

 domen thus attached to a stick will remain alive and is capable of moving 

 slightly, and indeed defecating after more than 24 hours. The head and 



' Mayer, A. G. On the mating instinct in moths. Annal. and Mag. Nat. His- 

 tory, V, 1900. 



