286 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



some quite fresh, but, with the exception of Polyommatus icarus on the 

 thyme flowers, we saw nothing else. 



Walking from here through Cuxton village, we struck the Hailing 

 hills. Not a single Agriades bellargus or Urbicola comma was observed; 

 although again A. corydon and P. icarus were not uncommon, nor did 

 an afternoon's wandering discover much else; a few worn Hipparchia 

 semele, plenty of Crambus geniculeus were, besides E. ianira, about all, 

 unless one mentions quite a lot of larvae of Euchelia jacobaeae, on the 

 ragwort. Although Epinephele ianira were, in many cases, in first class 

 condition, I felt quite convinced they were all of one brood, and my 

 observations on the larval and pupal babits have led me to doubt 

 even a chance second-brood example occurring in our latitude, all the 

 specimens from June to September representing only one long-drawn 

 out brood, whose larvae mature rapidly or slowly, according as they 

 are well- or ill-placed during the winter, spring and early summer 

 months, and some of which, in sunless and wet summers last on for 

 a long time without making much progress. One other item may be 

 mentioned, viz., the occurrence of a female Hepialus sylvinus, which, 

 just fresh from pupa, with unexpanded wings, came rolling down a 

 bank to the roadside, on the walk home. In a box, its maturation 

 rapidly took place, and it proved to be a very nice example. I felt much 

 disappointed entomologicaliy, and yet obtained a delightful September 

 walk. What a contrast with the work one can do at the same time 

 on a fine day almost anywhere in an entomological locality on the 

 Continent. Yet I remember when I used to put my nose in the air, 

 and say (and bonestly believed) that British collecting and British 

 entomology were good enough for me, and that I did not envy those 

 who took their walks abroad and saw as much of insects in a day as 

 one can, in a season like the present, see of insects here in six months. 

 Well, time has its revenges, and we would modify the old saw and 

 add "other times, other manners," and, after all, we Britishers can 

 salve our consciences and fairly brag that the entomologists of no 

 other country know its butterflies and moths as we do. 



Some Silkworm Moth Reflexes. 



By Professor VERNON L. KELLOGG. 



Silkworm moths, Bombyx mori, are sexually mature and eager to 

 mate immediately on issuing from the pupal cocoon. They take no 

 food (their mouth-parts are atrophied), they do not fly, they are un- 

 responsive to light ; their whole behaviour, in fact, is determined by 

 their response to the mating and egg-laying instincts. We have thus 

 an animal of considerable complexity of organisation, belonging to a 

 group of organisms well advanced in the animal scale, in a most 

 simple state for experimentation. 



The female moth, nearly immobile, protrudes a paired scent-organ 

 from the hindmost abdominal segment, and the male, walking nervously 

 about and fluttering its wings, soon finds the female by virtue of its 

 chemotactic response to the emanating odour. Males find the females 

 exclusively by this response, but orient themselves for copulation 

 (after reaching the female) by contact. When two males accidentally come 

 into contact in their moving about they try persistently to copulate. 



A male with antennae intact, but with eyes blackened, finds females 

 immediately and with just as much precision as those with eyes un- 



