PSYCHE. 



MATING OF ATTACUS GLOVERI. 



BV CAROLINE G. SOULE, BROOKLINE, MASS. 



ing, — with either I'/t/Tc/i o\ promcthea. 



A. glflveri seems to be as polygamous 

 usarropia, and to mate readily outside 

 its own species. One male mated a 

 female promcthca twice on successive 

 afternoons ; then mated another pro- 

 mcthca which had previously mated one 

 of its own species ; then, two days later, 

 mated a third promethea. 



Another male mated a female auguli- 

 fcra at about 7 p. m. ; next day at two 

 p. m. it mated a promethea ; next day 

 it mated another promethea which had 

 mated another ghweri the day before ; 

 next day the glovcri mated a fresh female 

 gloverl\ and next day it mated the aitgu- 

 lifcra female a second time, the aiigu- 

 lifera having laid a few eggs meantime. 



Another male ghvcri mated a gloveri 

 female twice, then a promethea, then 

 another glovcri both the latter having 

 been mated to other glovcri males first. 



In captivity ^/o7vr/ seems ready to mate 

 at any hour, and is active at intervals 

 all day and night, growing much excited 

 by the presence of a female, and being 

 far more active than any Attacine moth 

 I have watched except promethea male. 



The female gloveri in my cages moved 

 about much more actively, Vjefore mat- 

 ing, than any Saturniids I have seen, 

 even than S. cynthia. 



The female promcthcas mated by 

 gloveri males did not oviposit after the 

 first coition, but after the second mat- 



— they began to lay eggs almost at once. 



An aiigiilifcra, mated once with glovcri, 

 laid a few eggs, and after mating a 

 second glovcri, oviposited normally. 



Boih pro>?icthea and augiilifcra females, 

 after the first mating with glovcri, pro- 

 truded their ovipositors fully, just as 

 newly emerged moths do, and eagerly 

 mated a second and third time, in two 

 cases five times. I have never before 

 seen the female protrude the ovipositor 

 after mating except for egg-laying. One 

 female glovcri, after a long coition and 

 a little egg-laying, hung for hours with 

 the ovipositor protruded to its full length, 

 and mated at once a male put into the 

 cage, though the male was much battered 

 and had mated three or four times before. 



Gloveri has oviposited at any time 

 after 2 p. m., and been ready to mate ;it 

 any time of day or night. In most cases 

 coition has lasted several hours, the 

 longest being over seventeen hours, and 

 the shortest five hours. 



In emerging from the cocoon two 

 gloveri moths moistened the opened end 

 of the cocoon half an hour or more 

 before emerging. Litmus paper applied 

 to the moist end of the cocoon turned 

 red at once. The o\\\s.x gloveri, and by 

 far the greater number, merely pushed 

 through the gathered end of the cocoon, 

 without applying any fluid. 



