BEHAVIOR OF SPIDERS AND OTHER INSECTS 407 



rest thereon. The males fly leisinely about, at a height of from 

 one to two meters, emitting, at regular intervals, flashes of 

 light. If the male glows within five or six meters of the female, 

 she twists her body so as to have the luminous surface of her 

 abdomen face the male and then glows in response. The male 

 then turns directly towards the female, glows again and moves 

 directly towards her, glowing intermittently as he flies. To each 

 glow the female responds in kind. Arriving near the female, the 

 male alights, runs about in an excited manner and glows fre- 

 quently. Sooner or later the antennae of the excited insects 

 touch and then the fireflies mate. Immediately the glowing 

 ceases. When females were enclosed in air-tight glass jars, the 

 males found them readily. This caused Mast to conclude that 

 smell plays no part in bringing the insects together. Two sealed 

 jars containing male fireflies and one containing females were 

 placed on the ground. The males of the two jars were always 

 in plain view of each other; but, by means of an opaque screen, 

 the females were hidden from first one and then the other of 

 the sets of males. The males exposed to the females glowed 

 repeatedly; but the others glowed only after long intervals. 

 This caused him to conclude that the males do not respond to 

 the glow of other males. Other experiments showed that the 

 female will respond to any intermittent glow, even when pro- 

 duced by artificial means; but the males respond only to the 

 glow of the female. 



NEST-BUILDING AND MATERNAL INSTINCTS 



Cosens (22) gives some interesting information about the galls 

 of numerous insects, and Casteel (16) describes in detail the 

 manipulation of wax scales by the honey bee. 



Hungerford and Williams (42) describe the nests of the fol- 

 fowing hymenopterous insects : Pogonomyrmex occidentalis Cress., 

 Chlorion caeruleiim Drury, Bembex sayi Cress., Trypoxylon tex- 

 ense Sauss., Crabo interruptus St. Fargo, Odynerus annnlatus 

 Say, Loxostege stiticalis. Odynerus geminus Cress., Odynerus fora- 

 minatus Sauss., Polistes varicitus Cr., Halictus occidentalis, Anthi- 

 dium maculiforus Smith, Dianthidium concinnum, Dianthidium 

 curvatus Smith, Megacheli Sp.?, Melitoma grisella Ckll., and 

 Porter, Anthophora occidentalis Cress., and Ammophila sp.? To 

 students of the behavior of the hymenopterous insects, all of 



