PSYCHE 
VOL. XLVI 
MARCH, 1939 
No. 1 
A SIMPLE STROBOSCOPIC METHOD FOR THE STUDY 
OF INSECT FLIGHT 
By Leigh E. Chadwick 
Biological Laboratories, Harvard University 
The methods which have been used for the study of insect 
wing motion may be reduced for purposes of comparison 
to six types. Briefly these are (1) the deductive method, 
(2) the acoustic method, (3) the visual or optical method, 
(4) the graphic method, (5) the photographic method, and 
(6) the stroboscopic method. A short discussion of them 
and of the sort of information they have yielded will be 
useful in judging the possibilities of the new application of 
the stroboscopic method outlined below. Further details 
and references may be found in the works of Prochnow 
(1924), Weber (1933), Magnan (1934) and Snodgrass 
(1935). 
The deductive method is essentially that of the earlier 
anatomists. Supplemented by manipulation of dead or 
anaesthetized specimens it is still useful in studying the more 
intimate mechanism of the thorax. It cannot be expected to 
give exact information as to the actual motions of the wings 
in flight, nor a fortiori as to their rate. 
The principle employed in the acoustic method is to match 
the insect’s Flugton with the tone of a tuning fork or other 
instrument of known frequency. This method was applied 
extensively by Landois (1867) for rate determinations, but 
his results have not agreed too well with those obtained more 
directly with kymograph or camera. The relation between 
the pitch of an insect’s tone and the frequency of its wing 
motion is still not completely understood, and in many cases 
