INSECTS : THEIR EAKS AXD EYES. 191 



is, " assembling,'''' because the insects of this sex assemble 

 at one point. It cannot be practised with all insects, 

 nor even with all moths ; those of this family, JBomhy- 

 cidce, are in general available ; and of these, none is 

 more celebrated for the habit than the Oak Eira'cr. 

 The very individual whose antenna has furnished us 

 with this observation was taken in this way ; for hav- 

 ing bred a female of this species the evening before last, 

 I put her into a basket, in my parlour. One male, the 

 same evening, came dashing into the kitchen ; but yes- 

 terday, soon after noon, in the hot sunshine of August, 

 no fewer than four more males came rapidly in succes- 

 sion to the parlour window, which was a little open, and, 

 after beating about the panes a few minutes, found 

 their way in, and made straightway for the basket, 

 totally regardless of their own liberty. 



It must be manifest to you that some extraordinary 

 sense is bestowed upon these moths, or else some ordi- 

 nary and well-known sense in extraordinary development. 

 It may be smell ; it may be hearing ; but neither odour 

 nor sound, perceptible by our dull faculties, is' given 

 forth by the females ; the emanation is far too subtile 

 to produce any vibrations on our sensorium, and yet 

 sufficiently potent, and wddely diffused, to call these 

 males from their distant retreats in the hedges and 

 woods. I think it highly probable that the great in- 

 crease of surface given to the antcnncB by the plumose 

 ramification we have been observing, is connected 

 with the faculty ; perhaps every bristle of the spiral 

 whorls is a perceptive organ, constructed to vibrate 

 with the tender undulations that circle far and wide 

 from the new-born female. Surely the ways of God in 

 creation, as well as in moral government, are " past 

 finding out ! " 



