2o6 THE COURTSHIP OF ANIMALS 



exhaling odour, were besieged by males. To locate the 

 organs of scent in the female he cut off the abdomen of 

 several and placed the abdomens and their late owners 

 at some distance apart. Males came to the abdomens 

 and not to the thorax and wings. Males whose antennae 

 were covered with shellac, photographic paste, glue, 

 paraffin, etc., showed no response to the female exhalations, 

 until the covering medium was removed. 



Mayer next tested the selective action of the females. 

 He began by removing their wings and affixing to the 

 stumps the wings of males. The males mated with the 

 females quite as readily as under normal conditions, 

 though the most conspicuous female characters had been 

 exchanged for those of the male. After this he affixed 

 female wings upon the males, but mating took place as 

 usual. The females did not seem to detect anything 

 unusual in their suitors, nor did normal males attempt 

 to pair with males bearing female wings. Later he tried 

 the experiment of dyeing the wings of three hundred males 

 scarlet or green, and matched these against three hundred 

 which were left untouched. The disguised, dyed males 

 succeeded in pairing as easily as their normally-coloured 

 brethren. The females exhibited no choice whatever. 

 Hence, then, we have further reason to beHeve that with 

 the Lepidoptera scent, not sight, is the channel by which 

 mates are found. So far as the evidence goes, it seems 

 to show conclusively that in all that concerns sexual 

 relationships, scent is the guiding and determining factor. 

 By scent the females attract the males, and by scent of 

 another kind the males sharpen the procreative appetites 

 of the females. 



If the interpretation adopted in these pages is correct, 

 these manifestations and emanations of colour and scent 



