The Life of the Caterpillar 



yards away from the caged prisoner. Several 

 of them come in downstairs, wander about 

 the hall and at most reach the staircase, a 

 blind alley barred at the top by a closed door. 



These data tell us that the guests at this 

 nuptial feast do not make straight for their 

 object, as they would if they derived their in- 

 formation from some kind of luminous ra- 

 diation, whether known or unknown to our 

 physical science. It is something else that ap- 

 prises them from afar, leads them to the prox- 

 imity of the exact spot and then leaves the 

 final discovery to the airy uncertainty of ran- 

 dom searching. It is very much like the way 

 in which we ourselves are informed by hear- 

 ing and smell, guides which are far from ac- 

 curate when we want to decide the precise 

 point of origin of the sound or the smell. 



What are the organs of information that 

 direct the rutting Moth on his nightly pil- 

 grimage? One suspects the antennae, which, 

 in the males, do in fact seem to be question- 

 ing space with their spreading tufts of 

 feathers. Are those glorious plumes mere 

 ornaments, or do they at the same time play 

 a part in the perception of the effluvia that 

 guide the enamoured swain? A conclusive 



252 



