experience, even a moth of another species in its search for a
mate. How male moths work the miracles I have seen them accomplish
in locating females, I cannot explain. As the result of acts we
see them perform, we credit some forms of life with much keener
scent than others, and many with having the power more highly
developed than people. The only standard by which we can determine
the effect that the odour of one insect, bird, or animal has upon
another is by the effect it has upon us. That a male moth can
smell a female a block away, against the wind, when I can detect
only a faint musky odour within a foot of her, I do not credit.

Primarily the business of moths is to meet, mate, and deposit
eggs that will produce more moths. This is all of life with those
that do not take food. That they add the completing touch and
most beautiful form of life to a few exquisite May and June nights
is their extra good fortune, not any part of the affair of living.
With moths that feed and live after reproduction, mating and egg
placing comes first. In all cases the rule is much, the same. The
moths emerge, dry their wings, and reach full development the
first day. In freedom, the females being weighted with eggs seldom
attempt to fly. They remain where they are, thrust out the egg
placer from the last ring of the abdomen and wait. By ten o'clock
the males, in such numbers as to amaze a watcher, find them
and remain until almost morning. Broad antennae, slenderer
abdomen, and the claspers used in holding the female in mating,
smaller wings and more brilliant markings are the signs by which
the male can be told in most cases. In several of the Attacine
group, notably Promethea, the male and female differ widely in
markings and colour. Among the other non-feeders the difference
is slight. The male Regalis has the longest, most gracefully