directed. Some said that in these remote Islands the male had 
assumed the markings of the female, but another explanation of the 
phenomenon is more probable. All our British species of Hepicilus are 
similar in character of markings except male humuli , which (except these 
varieties) is without markings entirely. This indicates descent from 
one ancestor, and it is more than probable that the sexes of humuli 
once resembled each other, as do the sexes of the other species. The 
female flying to the male by sight would always see the paler specimens 
best. Thus, the lighter the colour of the males, or the more silver 
there was about them, the more conspicuous would they be, and, 
therefore, more likely to secure partners and produce a lighter or more 
silvery offspring. This would go on year after year, the silvery markings 
increasing in extent in the course of generations, until a perfectly white 
male was produced as we see it now, solely by “ natural selection.” 
In the extreme north, where there is longer daylight at midsummer than 
with us, the female would be able to see better than in our dim twi¬ 
light, and the paler males would have less advantage. The process of 
selection, therefore, would be slower, and as the darker males, as Lord 
Walsingham has shown, would develop more rapidly, still tending to 
delay the evolution of the perfectly white male. 
The males of hectus fly in a somewhat similar fashion to those of 
humuli , backwards and forwards, like a pendulum, but there is this 
difference between them : Humuli generally selects an open place, and 
exposes himself as much as possible, flying generally three or four feet 
from the ground. Hectus , on the other hand, will commence his motions 
on the sheltered side of a bush or large fern, or in some other secluded 
spot. He flies a shorter distance, too, before he turns, and altogether be¬ 
haves in a quieter and more retiring manner than does his bigger brother. 
Mr. Barrett was the first to detect the manner in which the male hectus 
attracts his partner. He found it flying freely at Canaster Wood, and 
as he wanted some specimens for the museum, he took as many as he 
could during the few minutes it remained on the wing, in all forty 
males and four females. The remainder of the passage had better be 
given in his own words :—“To the fortunate circumstance of taking so 
large a number perfectly fresh, I attribute the discovery of a fact which 
I have not seen recorded—that this species, when in fine condition, 
diffuses a very decided perfume, almost exactly the same as the 
perfume given off by the larva of Papilio machaon , when the forked 
tubercle is extended, and more like that of ripe pineapple than any 
other perfume of which I know. I noticed it faintly when turning the 
moths out of the pill-boxes, but when a number were pinned into a 
box it became very noticeable indeed. It was confined to the male 
moth, and seemed especially to come from the curious bladdery 
termination of the aborttd hind legs, but of this I am not positive. It 
certainly does not continue to be observable when the moths get worn. 
I suspect that it has some connection with the curiously inverted habits 
of the sexes in Hepialus , and seems to attract the females ” ( E.M.M ., 
vol. xix., pp. 90-91). Subsequently (September, 1886), Mr. Barrett 
returned to the subject:—“ I have again noticed the very distinct and 
even powerful pertume of pineapple given off by the male Hepialus 
hectus , and now think that it is connected with rather abnormal sexual 
habits in this species. One evening, in June, they commenced flying 
very early (about half-past eight o’clock) in broad daylight, and on 
