102 
HALT 1 HOUKS WITH INSECTS. 
[Packard. 
certainly the longest ears give the greater wisdom, however 
it may be among certain higher animals with a less number 
of feet than our mosquito boasts. The bushy antennae of 
the feathered gnats (Chironomus) are perhaps still more 
acute organs of hearing than those of the mosquito, and 
here the great difference between the antennae in the sexes 
may be seen by a glance at the accompanying figure (71) 
of the common ocean gnat of our harbors, the lower figure 
representing the antennae of the female with their few short 
scattered hairs, while those of the male are very bushy. 
The feelers of many moths are delicately feathered, those 
of the males being invariably with longer branches than in 
the other sex. They are particularly well developed in the 
males of the silk-worm moths, as for example in the large 
handsome Luna moth (see PI. 2, representing, however, the 
female). The females of this group particularly are quite 
stationary, while the more active, restless males may be seen 
sailing majestically through the air in the twilight. If a 
female of this family be confined in a room or in a box out 
of doors, numbers of suitors for her hand and heart will 
come from far and wide. Collectors of insects take advan¬ 
tage of this trait, which they call u assembling.” It is stated 
in an English work that an entomologist while walking out 
with a female Emperor moth in a box in his pocket was at¬ 
tended by twenty or thirty males fluttering anxiously about 
his person. They have also been known to seek their part¬ 
ners, held captive in the city of Manchester, from a distance 
of ten miles out of town. Now what is the faculty by which 
these sparks, with their antennae gayly feathered and plumed, 
and wings, if not hearts, fluttering wildty, seek the presence 
of those undemonstrative if liot stolid damsels? It is not 
by the sense of sight, because it is in the darkness of the 
night, and the 'darker and more foggy the night the better. 
Moreover, moths cannot see through the walls of houses nor 
into the collecting box in the pocket of the insect hunter. 
6 
