6 MY NATURE NOTEBOOK. 



hedgerows. Nor could it unlay the eggs of the wives 

 of the winter moths that fluttered boldly abroad in the 

 mild night air, and so came into the fatal radius of 

 attraction of our lighted windows, where many of 

 them danced upon the panes or sat with folded wings 

 gazing at the light till midnight. 



FINE HUSBANDS AND DOWDY WIVES. 



Another power of attraction to which these 

 winter moths succumb with joy is the mysterious 

 influence with which their unwedded females per- 

 meate the surrounding atmosphere. While their 

 suitors can go flaunting about on ample if flimsy 

 wings, the females have at the most mere shoulder- 

 knot apologies for wings, and must sit at home, little, 

 inconspicuous, spidery virgins, waiting till sweethearts 

 find them. They do not stay quite at home perhaps. 

 In fact, they crawl out of the earth crevices where 

 they have lived as pupae to some exposed point of 

 twig or tree-trunk ; but, wherever they may be, the 

 males find them by scent, or, at any rate, by some 

 sense other than sight, and the contrast between, 

 these winged males and wingless females is one 

 of Nature's most characteristic bits of handiwork. 

 Because the male is comparatively valueless to the 

 species, he is decorated and winged and allowed to 

 fly abroad, enjoying life and taking its risks ; but the 

 valuable female is unadorned and wingless, for she 

 must stay at home in safety and work out the destiny 

 of the race. 



