208 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD 



towards the middle of August ; so that I was able to vary 

 and repeat my experiments. 



I rapidly repeated the experiments which had given me 

 such positive results in the instance of the Great Peacock 

 moth. The pilgrims of the day were no less skilful at 

 finding their mates than the pilgrims of the night. They 

 laughed at all my tricks. Infallibly they found the 

 prisoners in their wire-gauze prisons, no matter in what 

 part of the house they were placed ; they discovered 

 them in the depths of a wall-cupboard ; they divined the 

 secret of all manner of boxes, provided these were not 

 rigorously air-tight. They came no longer when the 

 box was hermetically sealed. So far this was only a 

 repetition of the feats of the Great Peacock. 



A box perfectly closed, so that the air contained 

 therein had no communication with the external 

 atmosphere, left the male in complete ignorance of the 

 recluse. Not a single one arrived, even when the box 

 was exposed and plain to see on the window-sill. Thus 

 the idea of strongly scented effluvia, which are cut off 

 by screens of wood, metal, card, glass, or what not, 

 returns with double force. 



I have shown that the great nocturnal moth was 

 not thrown off the scent by the powerful odour of 

 naphthaline, which I thought would mask the extra- 

 subtle emanations of the female, which were imper- 

 ceptible to human olfactory organs. I repeated the 

 experiment with the Oak Eggar. This time I used all 

 the resources of scent and stench that my knowledge 

 of drugs would permit. 



A dozen saucers were arranged, some in the interior 

 of the wire-gauze cover, the prison of the female, and 



