336 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



vfhich juglandif ex, Fitch, and variegatuin, Goethe, are synonyms. 

 This conclusion is not to be considered certain, but simply as 

 favoured by the balance of evidence. Those who disagree have 

 several courses open to them ; they can use Goethe's name, 

 variegatum, or either variegatuin, juglandifex, or juglandis can be 

 used in a varietal sense under L. j^ersicce. 

 September 24tl), 1894. 



NOTES ON "ASSEMBLING," WITH SOME GENERAL 



KEMAKKS ON THE SENSES IN LEPIDOPTERA. 



By J. Akkle. 



That butterflies and moths possess a keen sight needs no 

 demonstration ; but what evidence is there of the sense of 

 hearing ? As far as can be seen they possess no organ for the 

 exercise of the faculty. Sound neither alarms nor produces upon 

 them the slightest imj^ression. A butterfly or moth evades its 

 captor by the sense of sight, not by that of hearing. The 

 report of a gun disturbs birds and other animals but not Lepi- 

 doptera. Not only are they insensible to sound, but they are in 

 "themselves voiceless. The death's-head moth {Acherontia 

 atropos) has been credited with a phenomenal squeak, Neuronia 

 popnlaris with a " clicking noise " in flight ; the wings of certain 

 species set up a vibratory hum ; but there is no response in a 

 sense of hearing, and the insects live in what is to them a 

 soundless world. 



If, however, the sense of hearing be absent, that of touch is 

 certainly present. Whatever other faculty the antennae may 

 possess, these organs are unmistakable " feelers." Any one who 

 has watched the little bronze-green Adela viridella using its long 

 antennae in a birch-bush on a sunny day, will be convinced that 

 a discriminating touch is centred in these appendages. Antennae 

 are varied in dimension and design, but surely to meet the habits 

 of each particular species. And so, in contrast to the example 

 quoted, those of Hcpialus hiimuli are short, to fit with an 

 experience close to the roots of thick, low-growing plants. To 

 butterflies and certain moths "clubbed" antennae are best 

 suited in dealing with surfaces, as petals and leaves. 



That Lepidoptera generally possess the faculty of taste is as 

 evident as that they possess sight. But in some species, 

 appearing early in the year, as, for example, Nyssia Jiispidaria, 

 the proboscis is wanting and the sense probably withheld. As 

 imagines they precede the flowers, and seem to pass their short 

 lives without food at all. 



Smell. — In animal organisms the gift of scent is exercised 

 through the respiratory process. Lepidoptera possess this 



