The head carries the source of
sight, scent, and the mouth parts, if the moth feeds, while the
location of the ears is not yet settled definitely. Some
scientists place hearing in the antennae, others in a little organ
on each side the base of the abdomen. Packard writes: "The eyes
are large and globose and vary in the distance apart in different
families": but fails to tell what I want to know most: the range
and sharpness of their vision. Another writer states that the eyes
are so incomplete in development that a moth only can distinguish
light from darkness and cannot discern your approach at over five feet.
This accords with my experience with Cecropia, Polyphemus,
Regalis, and Imperialis. Luna either can see better, hear acutely,
or is naturally of more active habit. It is difficult to capture
by hand in daytime; and Promethea acts as if its vision were even
clearer. This may be the case, as it flies earlier in the day
than any of the others named, being almost impossible to take by
hand unless it is bound to a given spot by sex attraction.
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