MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



male. He is compelled to take wing and hunt until he 

 discovers her; hence his need of more acute sense of scent 

 and touch. The organ that is used most is the one that 

 develops in the evolution of any form of life. 



I can well believe that the antennae are most important 

 to a moth, for a broken one means a spoiled study for me. 

 It starts the moth tremulously shivering, aimlessly beat- 

 ing, crazy, in fact, and there is no hope of it posing for a 

 picture. Doctor Clemens records that Cecropia could 

 neither walk nor fly, but wheeled in a senseless manner 

 when deprived of its antennae. This makes me sure 

 that they are the seat of highest sensibility, for I have 

 known in one or two cases of chloroformed moths reviv- 

 ing and without struggle or apparent discomfort, depos- 

 iting eggs in a circle around them, while impaled to a 

 setting board with a pin thrust through the thorax where 

 it of necessity must have passed through or very close 

 the nervous cord and heart. 



The moth is covered completely with silken down like 

 tiny scales, coloured and marked according to species, 

 and so lightly attached that it adheres to the cocoon on 

 emergence and clings to the fingers at the lightest touch. 

 From the examination of specimens I have taken that 

 had disfigured themselves, it appears that a moth rubbed 

 bare of down would seem as if covered with thinly cut, 

 highly polished horn, fastened together in divisions. 

 This is called "chitine" by scientists. 



42 



