The Nuptial Flight 95 
been normally at rest, and the factor of fatigue should be con- 
sidered in the results of this experiment. 
The 24 marked moths had the following histories: 3 were old 
and had dilapidated wings, 1 was the young, wild male that had 
mated early that morning, and the remaining 20 were fresh 
young wild ones. Since the startling events of the night before 
had taught me that their regular time of flight is just before 
dawn, I began my watch at 3 a. m.; at 3:30 the moths began to 
arrive in great numbers, and at 4:30, before daylight was yet 
clear, their flight was at an end. The exact timing, the precision 
of their flight, seemed almost uncanny. We may well say ‘‘ ‘Tis 
the witching hour,’ until we can say something better, which, 
alas! we cannot yet do. 
Tn that hour, 54 males were captured, but only one in the lot 
bore the marks which told that it was one of the 24 which had 
been taken out the evening before to a point one mile distant. 
But the story is not complete until we add that three others 
came in at dawn of the second day. This is easily explained, 
hypothetically, by mere chance; it is quite natural that as the 
moths wandered in various directions, a few of them would, 
Sooner or later, come by chance into the path of the wind from 
the house, and from there follow the trail home. All four of 
those which came in were of the lot of 20 young wild moths. 
Moreover, we must constantly bear in mind that, although in a 
wild state, the males regularly emerge somewhat prior to the 
females, by this time there were probably a few wild females in 
the woods to distract our experimental males from their course, 
for these moths have no ‘choming”’ interest which would draw 
them back to the house where they had hatched, as a bee or a 
wasp would have, but their only interest is the call of their mates 
in that house, 
Exp. 14. May 19. Wind, south; station, 4 mile north. The 
fresh young males which had come in at dawn were marked 
and liberated at 10 p.m. One must not lose sight of the fact 
that these had already made one flight, from an unknown dis- 
tance, to the roof, and if they returned again it would be their 
Second successful journey, which would be an advent of no small 
Proportions in the life of a creature which lives only a few days. 
in the last test, the point of liberation was chosen in the 
