SOMR ACCOUNT OP THE LEPIDOPTERA ROUND EXETER. 251 



Ino Statices, (Green Forester Moth,) has been taken some years ago 

 near Newton: I have not heard of its being seen since. Anthrocera Filipen- 

 dulce, (Six-spotted Burnet Moth.) — This insect is common round Torquay. 

 The Five-spotted Burnet Moth, (Anthrocera Loti,) is a rare insect; it appears 

 to be confined to the Limestone district of Torquay. Smerinthus ocellatus, 

 (Eyed Hawk Moth.) — I have not heard of this fine insect being taken here, 

 but S. Populi is rather common. S. Tilloe, (Lime Hawk Moth,) is not at all 

 common — I have only seen two or three specimens. 



Sphinx Ligustri is sometimes taken here, but it is by no means a common 

 insect, as I have only seen but five or six specimens since my residence here. 

 One of the most beautiful of our native insects is the Elephant Hawk Moth, 

 (Metopsilus Elpenor.) About five years ago several caterpillars of this fine 

 insect were taken in the Cemetery, in Exeter, and each of them in due course 

 produced a fine specimen; another I took myself near the Ei^er Exe feeding 

 on the White Lady's Bed-straw, f Galium idiginosum,) which I reared, and it 

 is now in my cabinet. The Death's Head Moth, (Acherontia Afropos.) — 

 Several fine specimens of this beautiful insect have been taken here; also two 

 or three of that gorgeous insect, the Convolvulus Hawk Moth, (Sphinx Con- 

 volvuli,) I have seen in the possession of — Ross, Esq., of Topsham, in 

 whose museum the specimens are placed. These, I was told, were caught 

 at Topsham, a village four miles from Exeter, situated at the estuary of the 

 Exe. Macroglossa Stellatarum, (Humming-bird Moth,) is tolerably plentiful, 

 but by no means a really common insect, though you may take several in a 

 season; they appear particularly fond of Verbenas, or rather the nectar con- 

 tained in the flowers, I do not know if any of the readers of "The Naturalist" 

 ever saw one of these insects at rest, I can only say that I never did, though 

 I have watched several at different times. Trochilium Tipuliforme, (Currant 

 Hawk Moth,) is a common insect, or at least you may rear almost as many 

 as you like, as the caterpillars, or rather grubs, are much too common, for 

 limb after limb of our currant bushes keep dying oflP, without any apparent 

 cause, till it is found that the larvae of this Moth are the cause of the mischief. 



It now remains for me to enumerate, as far as my knowledge of the subject 

 goes, the Nocturnal species, beginning with the Ghost Moths: — Hepialvs lu- 

 pulinuSy (Small Swift Moth;) B. M. G. means the British Museum Catalogue, 

 from which most of the names are taken. This Moth is found in tolerable 

 plenty round Exeter; Hepialus Humuli, (Ghost Moth,) is also common in 

 the quiet shady corners of lanes, swinging to and fro, as it were, sometimes 

 showing one side of its wings, and then the other, so at every alternate swing 

 you lose sight of it entirely from the under side being brown, and the upper 

 satin white — this only applies to the male insect, the female being quite a 

 diflerent colour. The Goat Moth, (Cossus Liyniperda.) — This beautiful Moth 

 is by no means common; I have only seen two or three specimens since 

 my residence here. One I found on the road had been crushed by some 

 person's foot, near Dansford; and two caterpillars I have had brought to me. 



