282 Darkening Skies 



Then she lays her eggs, and the " looper " or geo- 

 meter caterpillars hatch and devour the bloom in 

 spring. It is to intercept the female of this moth 

 that sticky bands like flypapers are fastened round 

 the trunks of the trees in well-kept fruit gar- 

 dens and orchards. Notwithstanding this device, 

 females have been found safely established above 

 the sticky trap, with free access to the upper 

 branches. As their wings are the barest rudi- 

 mentary stumps, they obviously cannot reach the 

 branches unassisted, if the trap is in proper working 

 order ; and the theory has been put forward that 

 the male has developed the device of carrying his 

 mate to the boughs in order to circumvent the 

 peril. 



It is not at all improbable that the male carried 

 the female to the branches, since one butterfly may 

 often be seen carrying another ; but it is incredible 

 that the male should take any voluntary step to 

 carry the female past the trap and into the boughs. 

 Even if there were any ground for crediting him 

 with the least vestige of parental concern, very 

 cogent proof would be needed before we could safely 

 conclude that a creature so low in the scale of being 

 as a winter moth would be capable of such an in- 

 telligent device. There can be little doubt that the 

 moths fluttered at hazard from the tree-trunk 

 below the trap, and landed in the boughs of the 

 same or another tree. Probably they were aided 

 by the wind, for the egg-laden female is a bulky 

 burden for so slight a creature as the male winter 

 moth. 



