314 Scent Glands in Lepidopteva. 



from, but possibly it has escaped his notice that Dr. Dixey. 

 of Oxford, one of our most distinguished Lepidopterists and 

 the possessor of one of the finest collections of PicridcB extant, 

 contributed an excellent report upon this particular subject to 

 the Meeting of the British Association in 1914, an abstract 

 of which appeared in the issue of Nature for December loth, 

 1914. 



In this communication Dr. Dixey lays special stress on 

 the undoubted presence and glandular character of certain 

 specialized scales found on the bodies, limbs and wings of 

 butterflies in both sexes, but certain forms of them, as the 

 ' Plume Scales ' of the Pieridce and Nymphalidce, which often 

 afford valuable specific characters, have been found onl}^ in 

 the male sex. In some groups a special adaptation exists (as 

 is the case with the costal folds of the forewing in many 

 Hesperidce or Skippers) to conserve and control the odoriferous 

 emanations which can thus be emitted at pleasure for sexual 

 attraction and recognition, or the scent-distributing scales may 

 become aggregated together and placed on that part of the 

 fore or hind wings which is covered in the resting position, 

 as in many Pierids, and certain Satyrids and Nytnphalids. 



This diffusion of scent or pleasant odours by butterflies 

 was first observed in Brazil, where certain species were 

 remarked to be as fragrant as the choicest flowers, the fragrance 

 resembling that of the Stephanotis, Gorse, Sandal-wood and 

 other natural perfumes. These enticing odours were eventually 

 found to be not confined to South American species, but to be 

 a wide-spread feature in the biology of the group and to 

 emanate from certain glandular scales which, though occurring 

 in other positions, are very frequently placed at the anterior 

 margin of the wings, and usually, though far from invariably, 

 confined to the male sex. 



A distinctive and characteristic perfume is probably 

 secreted by each species, and that this is so is supported by the 

 records that the males of the Large Garden White Butterfly, 

 Pieris brassicce, diffuse a faint yet delicious scent of Balsam or 

 Lemon ; those of the Small White Pieris rapce shed an aroma 

 of Thyme, and from the Green-Reined White Pieris napi there 

 emanates a faint but delightfully odoriferous perfume resembling 

 that of the Lemon-Verbena. Other butterflies, according to 

 their kind, secrete other odours as Sweetbrier, Honeysuckle, 

 and other choice perfumes, which are sometimes so strong 

 as to be perceptible to the blunter senses of mankind. 



The faculty of secreting and diffusing attractive odours is, 

 however, not confined to butterflies, but is also shared by moths, 

 and the odours they emit are probably as pleasant, and the 

 position of the glandular areas as diverse as in butterflies, 

 for we find that in the primitive group Hepialidce or Ghost 



Naturalist, 



