96 BEETLES. 



Will took a pair of Cerambyx (beetles), put tlie 

 female in a box, and the male on a table at a distance 

 of about fifteen centimetres (four inches). They were at 

 first a little restless, but are naturally calm insects, and 

 soon became quiet, resting' as usual with the antennae 

 half extended. The male evidently was not conscious 

 of the presence of the female. Will then touched the 

 female with a long needle, and she began to stridulate. 

 At the first sound the male became restless, extended 

 bis antennae, moving them round and round as if to 

 determine from which direction the sound came, and 

 then marched straight towards the female. Will 

 repeated this experiment many times, and with dif- 

 ferent individuals, but always with the same result. As 

 the male took no notice of the female until she began 

 to stridulate, it is evident that he was not guided by 

 smell. From the manner in which the Cerambyx was 

 obviously made aware of the presence of the female by 

 the sound. Will considered it clearly proved that in 

 this case he was guided by the sense of hearing. 



Will has also repeated with these insects the experi- 

 ments I made with ants, bees, and wasps, and found 

 that they took no notice whatever of ordinary noises ; 

 but when he imitated their own sounds with a quill 

 and a fine file, their attention was excited — they 

 extended their antennae as before, but evidently per- 

 ceived the difference, for they appeared alarmed, and 

 endeavoured to escape.* 



Hicks in 1859 justly observed that, "Whoever has 

 observed a tranquilly proceeding Capricorn beetle which 

 is suddenly surprised by a loud sound, will have seen 



* Will, "Das Geschmacksorgan der lusekteu," Zeit. fur. Wiss. Zool.t 



1885. 



