Moths of the Limberlost | Page 7

and male butterflies pair with
albinos of their species, when these differ widely from the usual
colouring.
A few moths are also provided with small simple eyes called ocelli;
these are placed on top of the head and are so covered with down they
cannot be distinguished save by experts. Mueller believes that these are
for the perception of objects close to a moth while the compound eyes
see farther, but he does not prove it.
If the moth does not feed, the mouth parts are scarcely developed. If a
feeder, it has a long tongue that can be coiled in a cleft in the face
between the palpi, which Packard thinks were originally the feelers.
This tongue is formed of two grooved parts so fastened together as to
make a tube through which it takes flower and fruit nectar and the
juices of decaying animal matter.
What are thought by some to be small organs of touch lie on either side
the face, but the exact use of these is yet under discussion, It is wofully
difficult to learn some of these things.
In my experience the antennae, are the most sensitive, and therefore the
most important organs of the head--to me. In the Attacine group these
stand out like delicately cut tiny fern fronds or feathers, always being
broader and more prominent on the male. Other families are very
similar and again they differ widely. You will find moths having
pointed hair-like antennae; others heaviest at the tip in club shape, or
they may be of even proportion but flat, or round, or a feathered shaft
so fine as to be unnoticed as it lies pressed against the face. Some
writers say the antennae are the seat of scent, touch, and hearing. I had
not thought nature so impoverished in evolving her forms as to
overwork one delicate little organ for three distinct purposes. The
antennae are situated close where the nose is, in almost every form of
life, and I would prefer to believe that they are the organs of scent and

feeling. I know a moth suffers most over any injury to them; but one
takes flight no quicker or more precipitately at a touch on the antennae
than on the head, wing, leg, or abdomen.
We are safe in laying down a law that antennae are homologous organs
and used for identical purposes on all forms of life carrying them. The
short antennae of grasshoppers appear to be organs of scent. The long
hair-fine ones of katydids and crickets may be also, but repeatedly I
have seen these used to explore the way ahead over leaves and limbs,
the insect feeling its path and stepping where a touch assures it there is
safe footing. Katydids, crickets, and grasshoppers all have antennae,
and all of these have ears definitely located; hence their feelers are not
for auricular purposes. According to my logic those of the moth cannot
be either. I am quite sure that primarily they serve the purpose of a nose,
as they are too short in most cases to be of much use as `feelers,'
although that is undoubtedly their secondary office. If this be true, it
explains the larger organs ofthe male. The female emerges from winter
quarters so weighted with carrying from two to six hundred eggs, that
she usually remains and develops where she is. This throws the
business of finding her location on the male. He is compelled to take
wing and hunt until he discovers her; hence his need of more acute
sense of scent and touch. The organ that is used most is the one that
develops in the evolution of any form of life.
I can well believe that the antennae are most important to a moth, for a
broken one means a spoiled study for me. It starts the moth tremulously
shivering, aimlessly beating, crazy, in fact, and there is no hope of it
posing for a picture. Doctor Clemens records that Cecropia could
neither, walk nor fly, but wheeled in a senseless, manner when
deprived of its antennae. This makes me sure that they are the seat of
highest sensibility, for I have known in one or two cases of
chloroformed moths reviving and without struggle or apparent
discomfort, depositing eggs in a circle around them, while impaled to a
setting board with a pin thrust through the thorax where it of necessity
must have passed through or very close the nervous cord and heart.
The moth is covered completely with silken down like tiny scales,

coloured and marked according to species, and so lightly attached that
it adheres to the cocoon on emergence and clings to the fingers at the
lightest touch. From the examination of specimens I have taken that
had disfigured themselves, it appears