323 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE IxVSECT WORLD 



events. They do not avoid the hand about to seize 

 them. Most of them are hanging by their hind 

 legs and nibbling the pine-needles ; they seem to be 

 gently drowsing with the needles at their mouths. 

 When twilight returns they resume their frolics. 



To watch these frolics in the tops of the trees is 

 hardly possible ; let us try to observe them in cap- 

 tivity. Four pairs are collected in the morning and 

 placed, with some twigs off the pine-tree, in a spacious 

 cage. The sight is hardly worth my attention ; de- 

 prived of the possibility of flight, the insects cannot 

 behave as in the open. At most I see a male from time 

 to time approaching his beloved ; he spreads out the 

 leaves of his antennae, and agitates them so that 

 they shiver slightly ; he is perhaps informing himself if 

 he is welcome. Thereupon he puts on his finest airs 

 and exhibits his attainments. It is a useless display ; 

 the female is motionless, as though insensible to these 

 demonstrations. Captivity has sorrows that are hard 

 to overcome. This was all that I was able to see. 

 Mating, it appears, must take place during the later 

 hours of the night, so that I missed the propitious 

 moment. 



One detail in particular interested me. The Pine- 

 chafer emits a musical note. The female is as 

 gifted as the male. Does the lover make use of hi<* 

 faculty as a means of seduction and appeal ? Does 

 the female answer the chirp of her innamorata by a 

 similar chirp ? That this may be so under normal 

 conditions, amidst the foliage of the pines, is extremely 

 probable; but I can make no assertion, as I have 

 never heard anything of the kind either among the 

 pines or in my laboratory. 



I 



