370 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, XIII. 
Fertilized females are still quite attractive to males, however, and the males 
will readily mate with them. This last was first observed by Miss Caroline 
G. Soule in 1894. She had two female promethia moths, each one of which 
was mated with four males, and still remained attractive to other males, In 
fact, as long as the female remained alive and in good health she held attrac- 
tions for the male, 
One of my males mated four times with three females, and three others 
mated three times each, The males will make frantic efforts to mate with 4 
female which is at the time coupling with another male, 
The male will fly towards the female with normal eagerness even though his 
entire abdomen be cut off, and he will still seek the female when, in addition 
to this, the sides of his thorax are covered with impervicus glue, Ii is there- 
fore evident that the spiracles are not the seat of the organs by which the 
male perceives the female scent, 
If, on the other hand, the antenne of the male be covered with shellac, 
glue paraffin, Canada balsam, celloidin, or photographic paste,* he no longer 
seeks the female, and displays no excitement even though within an inch of 
her, In five instances I removed the paste by dissolving it in water, and in 
four of these cases the males readily mated with the females. Upon again 
covering the antenne with the paste the malesagain failed to notice the 
females when in close proximity to them, 
There can be but little doubt that the organs by which the male 
perceives the female are situated in the antenne ; indeed it has long been 
recognized that the olfactory organs of insects are found chiefly upon the 
antenne, Hauser (1880) and Kraepelin (1883) have given excellent des- 
criptions of the minute anatomy of these organs, Hauser having carried out 
an elaborate series of physiological experiments to determine their functions. 
He cut off the antennz of several species of insects and found that their 
sense of smell was then either greatly impaired or totally lost ; covering 
their antennze with melted paraffin gave the same results, | 
Hauser also found that when the antenne of the male (Saturnia pavonia) 
were removed the moth never makes any attempt to mate. 
- Packard (1898) gives an excellent review of all researches relating to the 
anatomy and physiology of the olfactory organs in insects, 
If the eye of a male (Callosamia promethia) be covered thickly with aien 
or Brunswick black ;f so as to preclude the possibility of sight remaining, 
the male will still mate in a normal manner when placed near the female. 
It will be remembered that in this moth the male is black while the female 
is reddish-brown ; in accordance with the well-known theory of Darwin, the 
peculiar coloration of the male might be due to sexual selection on the part 
of the female, We might suppose, indeed, that the female preferred dark- 
coloured males, and thus under the influence of sexual selection the males 
* The photographic paste mentioned was “ Stafferd’s white paste” ; probably any im- 
pervious paste would serve as well. 
+ This substance is commonly used ag microscopic cement, andisofa piteby consist- 
ency and a dense brown-black colour. 
