July 15,1918 
Female Lepidoptera at Light Traps 
147 
HAUSIDOTA CARYAE HARRIS (7, p. 8) 
Mr. Dwight Isely had this species under observation at North East, 
Pa., during the summers of 1915 and 1916. He records that of 25 adults 
reared 17 were males and 8 were females. 
CHTORIDEA OBSOLETA FABRICIUS ( ZJ , p. Q 2 ) 
Of this species it is stated that— 
... data concerning over 300 moths were collected which bear evidence on the pro¬ 
portions of the sexes. These include records of moths collected in the field and of those 
bred out in the laboratory. In practically all cases there is a slight preponderance of 
females in the ratio of 168 females to 120 males. 
hemileuca ouviae cockerell (j, p. 84 , 88) 
In his paper on this species Mr. C. N. Ainslie says: 
During the first week of emergence the males outnumbered the females at least 
three to one, and on page 88 a table shows that from 5,000 pupae gathered in widely 
separated parts of the infested area there emerged 2,822 males as against 2,178 
females. 
Further information concerning this species is had from manuscript 
records on the relative proportions of the sexes, compiled from pupal 
parasite cages at Koehler, N. Mex., by Messrs. V. L. Wildermuth, D. J. 
Caffrey, and H. E. Smith, during September, October, and November, 
1913. These records concern a total of 19,321 moths, of which 10,844 
were males and 8,477 were females. 
porthetria dispar linnaeus 
Under date of December 15, 1917, Mr. F. H. Mosher, Entomological 
Assistant, states that of the large number of gipsy moths reared in in¬ 
vestigations extending over a period of six years the ratio of males to 
females averaged as 5 to 4, a percentage of 55.6 and 44.4, respectively. 
. A summing up of the foregoing notes on the proportional relations of 
the sexes in the Lepidoptera is presented in Table IV, by which it is 
seen that of 28,094 individuals, the males make up 55 per cent and the 
females 45 per cent Although 14 species are concerned, the bulk of 
moths are of one species, Hemileuca oliviae. It is to be regretted that 
the matter of the proportion of sexes among Lepidoptera has received 
so little attention. 
If it be assumed that the sexes exist in nature in approximately equal 
numbers, the investigations on which this paper is based show the 
females taken at the light trap to constitute 57 per cent of the assumed 
total of females, while the gravid females so taken make up 33 per cent. 
It is believed that further investigations to be conducted will adduce 
m additional evidence to disprove the theory that practically only male 
