MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 923 



as far as the end of tail, 47 in all, there is the same tendency to triangular 

 formation on junction of scales with ventrals, which was recorded in A. 



One more point remains to be noticed. Major Wall says in 

 his book that the tail of the JJuugarus is round. A cross 

 section of this snake's tail half way between the anal and the 

 tip would present this outline. 



E. C. CHOLMONDELEY. 

 Indore, C.I.. 7th October 1908. 



No. XXVIII.— SEXUAL ATTRACTION IN LEPIDOPTEEA. 



Referring to the Revd. W. Howard Campbell's note in the Journal (p. 511 

 of this Volume) on the " Sexual attraction in Lepidoptera" in which he re- 

 cords the capture of a male specimen of a Psychid moth, Clania crameri, that 

 had been attracted to an unimpregnated female shut up in a tin box and con- 

 tained in his pocket, it may interest him as well as others to know that in 

 order to capture the males of certain species of Lepidoptera by "sembhng," 

 it is not always even necessary for the presence of the female. 



I remember, some years ago, when out collecting with a friend in the South 

 of England (we were then sembling for the males of Saturn? a puvonia minor, 

 The Emperor Moth, and had a few females tied up in muslin bags) that he 

 told me of his experiences in "sembling" for the Oak Eggar Moth, Lasiocampa 

 quercus. 



He had been out on two consecutive days with an unimpregnated female 

 of the Oak Eggar Moth sembling for males, and had carried the insect in a 

 box in his satchel to and from the field of his operations. Having captured 

 a sufficient number of males during the two days, the female insect was left 

 at home when he went out collecting again on the following day. He took 

 with him, however, the box that had contained the female Oak Eggar Moth, 

 and was very surprised to find that males were attracted to him. These he 

 caught but liberated again, as they were useless to him as specimens being 

 somewhat worn. After some time it suddenly occurred to him that per- 

 haps he had, after all, again brought out the female eggar moth, but on open- 

 ing the box it was not there. To test his belief that the empty box still 

 contained the power of attracting male moths, he placed it on the ground 

 and stood some little way from the spot, to watch. Two male moths that 

 had been flying round and about him, presently flew away but returned again 

 shortly afterwards to flutter round the box itself- These two moths were 

 the only ones attracted which seems rather extraordinary, as there must have 

 been others about, and for the reason that a fair number had been caught 

 on the two previous days. I can only suppose, that so long as the man kept 

 moving about, there was just sufficient smell from the box left behind him to 

 attract any moths that he would be passing quite close to. A breeze blow- 

 ing in a certain direction might have carried the scent from the box only a 



