The Sense of Smell 



Yes, but if his sense of smell says there is nothing there 

 for him, you see he is saved the time and trouble ; and 

 his life is short. 



" Assembling " and " treacling " for moths are two 

 methods employed by insect-hunters to secure an abun- 

 dance of specimens otherwise difficult to obtain, and in 

 both cases it is this same wonderful sense of smell 

 which is the insect's undoing. 



For <c assembling," a captive virgin female is taken 

 at dusk to the locality where the species is likely to 

 occur, and if males are about they very soon make 

 their appearance. The female being in a gauze-covered 

 box, they will swarm over it in their efforts to find an 

 entrance, and when thus engaged can be easily captured. 

 As for the subtle odour emitted by the lady, you or I 

 could never detect it, yet these moths come swarming 

 from far and near. I once witnessed a curious phase 

 of this instinct on a hillside in Arran. My attention 

 was arrested by a number of males of Bombyx Quercus 

 (variety, Callun<e\ keeping near and flying over a 

 certain spot, and, thinking a female might be about, I 

 went over to investigate. It was a female, but a dead 

 and crushed one ; how it had met its end I could only 

 conjecture ; but evidently, although the insect was 

 mutilated, the scent still lingered, and brought the males 

 circling round. This large moth flies boldly during 

 the day, and in Arran the larvae feed on the heather. 



The eyes of a butterfly are large and of the usual 

 insect pattern i.e., compound, being made up of a 

 number of tiny lenses, hexagonal in shape, like the 

 II 



