COLOR IN MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 163 



her eggs, she no longer attracts males to her. A male will 

 readily mate with the females when his eyes are blinded by a 

 covering of black glue or pitch. The male will also fly toward 

 the females with normal eagerness even when his entire abdo- 

 men is cut off. If his antennae be covered with balsam, glue, 

 pitch, or flour paste, he no longer seeks the females and will 

 neither mate with them nor display any excitement when 

 brought into their immediate presence. If the glue or flour 

 paste be dissolved off, however, in water, he immediately flies 

 towards the females, as would a normal male. The males will 

 readily mate with a female upon which male wings have been 

 glued so that she presents the appearance of a male. They 

 will also mate with normal eagerness with a female deprived 

 of wings and having all the scales removed from her body. 

 The males will fly to a piece of raw cotton within which a 

 female is hidden, and will display intense excitement and grasp 

 the cotton eagerly with their abdominal claspers. Conversely, 

 the females will readily favor a male upon whom female wings 

 have been glued so that he presents the external appearance of 

 a female. Also they display no objection to a male who has 

 been deprived of wings and has had all of the scales removed 

 from his body. 



As far as this moth is concerned, we are apparently justified 

 in concluding that the male is merely positively chemotactic 

 toward the female, being attracted by some substance which 

 emanates from her. He is not attracted by the sight of the 

 female, nor does the female care anything for the appearance 

 of her consort. In this case, therefore, Darwin's hypothesis 

 of sexual selection is not supported, and we must attempt to 

 explain the melanic appearance of the male moth on other 

 grounds. 



In this connection it is interesting to notice that F. Plateau 

 maintains that insects are attracted far more by the odor of 

 flowers than by their color. 



