102 HALF HOUKS WITH I:N'SECTS. [Packard. 



certainly the longest ears give the greater wisdom, however 

 it may be among certain higher animals with a less number 

 of feet than our mosquito boasts. The bushy antennae of 

 the feathered gnats (Chironomus) are perhaps still more 

 acute organs of hearing than those of the mosquito, and 

 here the great difference between the antennce in the sexes 

 may be seen by a glance at the accompanying figure (71) 

 of the common ocean gnat of our harbors, the lower figure 

 representing the antennae of the female with their few short 

 scattered hairs, while those of the male are very bushy. 



The feelers of many moths are delicately feathered, those 

 of the males being invariably with longer branches than in 

 the other sex. They are particularly well developed in the 

 males of the silk-worm moths, as for example in the large 

 handsome Luna moth (see PI. 2, representing, however, the 

 female). The females of this group particularly are quite 

 stationary, while the more active, restless males may be seen 

 sailing majestically through the air in the twilight. If a 

 female of this family be confined in a room or in a box out 

 of doors, numbers of suitors for her hand and heart will 

 come from far and wide. Collectors of insects take advan- 

 tage of this trait, which they call " assembling." It is stated 

 in an English work that an entomologist while walking out 

 with a female Emperor moth in a box in his pocket Avas at- 

 tended by twenty or thirty males fluttering anxiously about 

 his person. They have also been known to seek their part- 

 ner's, held captive in the city of Manchester, from a distance 

 of ten miles out of town. Now what is the faculty by which 

 these sparks, with their antennae gayly feathered and plumed, 

 and wings, if not hearts, fluttering wildl}-, seek the presence 

 of those undemonstrative if not stolid damsels? It is not 

 by the sense of sight, because it is in the darkness of the 

 night, and the darker and more foggy the night the better. 

 Moreover, moths cannot see through the walls of houses nor 

 into the collecting bos in the pocket of the insect hunter. 



6 



