Rau — Observations on Samia Cecropia, Linn. 45 



the species took food and was long lived, and may have 

 been polygamous and the proportion of the sexes equal. 

 Possibly the female died of exhaustion in ovipositing, 

 while the male was able to fly about actively, finding and 

 impregnating many females, which, being heavily laden 

 with ova, were inactive and could not conveniently fly 

 about to seek the males. Can it possibly be that the 

 longer duration of life of the male, as we now see it in the 

 Cecropia moth is a vestige of the time when such 

 longevity was of benefit to the species? 



