NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 89 



specimens of Pyrameis atalanta, in quite good condition, in the 

 glades of the New Forest near Lyndhurst Eoad. Two specimens of 

 Gonepteryx rhamni, both males, were also seen, and it certainly looks 

 as if the same weather conditions had brought both species out of 

 hibernation together.— Wm. Eassnidge, M.A., 47, Tennyson Eoad, 

 Southampton. 



Attractiveness op Electric Light for Moths. — In the 

 'Entomologist' for March, p. 64, the Eev. J. E. Tarbat introduces a 

 subject of much interest, and one which for some years I had 

 intended to write about. Up to about ten years ago the electric 

 lights of Bedford were very attractive to moths, and my friend 

 Mr. W. B. Brocklehurst, who worked them very assiduously, captured 

 an immense number of insects, including Notodonta tritophus and D. 

 templi. The lamps at that time were open-type arc lamps. A 

 change was then made to gas-filled lamps and with their advent the 

 moths disappeared. It is quite a rare event to see a moth on a lamp 

 at the present time. The Borough Electrical Engineer, Mr. E. W. L. 

 Phillips, informs me that these latter consist merely of an incan- 

 descent filament in an atmosphere of argon or sometimes nitrogen. 

 The best arc lamp in the town was fixed on the east side of a wall of 

 the light-generating station and its rays would not be visible for more 

 than 200 yards as houses spread around it in every direction for half 

 a mile to a mile. Our experience was that a very large proportion 

 of the moths taken at the lamps were males, and that many of those 

 taken must have travelled one or two miles. A good example was 

 B. piniaria, which is not found within two miles. It is evident 

 therefore that the moths were not solely attracted by light rays. It 

 would appear therefore that moths are attracted to electric lamps by 

 some other means than by light waves, and the change of lamps may 

 assist in determining the nature of this attractive force. Some years 

 ago an article appeared in a daily paper by Mr. Hubert Stringer 

 entitled, "Moths and ' Wireless.' Do moths use wireless telegraphy '? " 

 He noted that the males of many moths are attracted great distances 

 by females, much further than could be accounted for by scent, and 

 that males will approach females down wind. They therefore have 

 some means of communication unknown to us. He remarked on the 

 highly-developed antennae of the males, which would serve as receiving- 

 aerials, and that these differ from the female antennas, which would be 

 the transmitting aerials. He suggested that tests could be made by 

 placing the female in a box of metal or wire gauze, which would cut 

 off any wireless waves. If the male did not come to that box it 

 would support the wireless theory. He states that definite proof 

 could be obtained by making the female's signals audible. In what 

 way, then, does the change of lamps affect this theory? My friend 

 the electrical engineer informs me that a modern argon gas-tilled 

 lamp does not propagate any gethereal waves other than light or 

 heat. The arc light, however, can be made to set up oscillatory 

 impulses and most of the powerful wireless stations employ |'arc 

 transmitters." In a street arc lamp oscillations of moderate rapidity 

 may be constantly emitted due to the continually varying electrical 

 state of the vapour between the carbons. Mr. Stringer, in the article 



ENTOM. — APRIL, 1922. ' 



