eir down, and thereupon, terrified by the heat, are of no
profit to the observer. If, instead of being roasted, they are held at a
distance by an envelope of glass, they press as closely as they can to
the flame, and remain motionless, hypnotised.

[Illustration: THE GREAT PEACOCK MOTH. THE PILGRIMS DIVERTED BY THE
LIGHT OF A LAMP.]

One night, the female being in the dining-room, on the table, facing the
open window, a petroleum lamp, furnished with a large reflector in
opaline glass, was hanging from the ceiling. The arrivals alighted on
the dome of the wire-gauze cover, crowding eagerly about the
prisoner; others, saluting her in passing, flew to the lamp, circled
round it a few times, and then, fascinated by the luminous splendour
radiating from the opal cone of light, clung there motionless under the
reflector. Already the children were raising their hands to seize them.
"Leave them," I said, "leave them. Let us be hospitable: do not disturb
the pilgrims who have come to the tabernacle of the light."

During the whole evening not one of them moved. Next day they were still
there. The intoxication of the light had made them forget the
intoxication of love.

With creatures so madly in love with the light precise and prolonged
experimentation is impracticable the moment the observer requires
artificial light. I renounced the Great Peacock and its nocturnal
habits. I required a butterfly with different habits; equally notable as
a lover, but seeking out the beloved by day.

Before going on to speak of my experiments with a subject fulfilling
these conditions, let me break the chronological order of my record in
order to say a few words concerning another insect, which appeared after
I had completed these inquiries. I refer to the Lesser Peacock (_Attacus
pavonia minor_, Lin.).

Some one brought me, from what locality I do not know, a superb cocoon
enveloped in an ample wrapping of white silk. From this covering, which
lay in large irregular folds, the chrysalis was easily detached; in
shape like that of the Great Peacock, but considerably less in size. The
anterior extremity, which is defended by an arrangement of fine twigs,
converging, and free at the converging ends, forming a device not unlike
an eel-pot, which presents access to the chrysalis while allowing the
butterfly to emerge without breaking the defence, indicated a relative
of the great nocturnal butterfly; the silk-work denoted a spinning
caterpilla