The Great Peacock 



tracts them. Though they have come from 

 very far without mistake, they seem uncertain 

 of their bearings once they are on the spot. 

 Nevertheless, sooner or later they enter the 

 room and pay their respects to the captive, 

 without much importunity. At two o'clock all 

 is over. Ten Moths have been here. 



All through the week, each time at noon- 

 day, when the light is at its brightest, Moths 

 arrive, but in decreasing numbers. The total 

 is nearly forty. I see no reason to repeat 

 experiments which could add nothing to what 

 I already know; and I confine myself to sta- 

 ting two facts. In the first place, the Lesser 

 Peacock is a day insect, that is to say, he cele- 

 brates his wedding in the brilliant light of the 

 middle of the day. He needs radiant sun- 

 shine. The Great Peacock, on the contrary, 

 whom he so closely resembles in his adult form 

 and in the work which he does as a caterpillar, 

 requires the dusk of the early hours of the 

 night. Let him who can explain this strange 

 contrast of habits. 



In the second place, a powerful air-current, 



sweeping the other way any particles capable 



of instructing the sense of smell, does not 



prevent the Moths' arriving from a direction 



277 



