THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 189 



PRACTICAL AND POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY.— No. 27. 



The Hepialid.e, or Ghost-moths. 



by albert f. winn, westmount, que. 



The moths forming this family are not at all common in collections, 

 are not strikingly beautiful, and are not particularly injurious to vegetation, 

 but are so utterly unlike their relatives that a few general remarks may be 

 of interest. The Hepialidse are distributed through all parts of the world, 

 most of the North American and European species being small or medium 

 in size, expanding from a little over an inch to about four inches, the 

 colours being mostly of various shades of browns, grays, yellow and white. 

 In warmer lands, for example Australia and New Zealand, specie? are 

 found of lovely colours, very large expanse of wings and hca*-. ucuics 

 The male of one of the commonest European species, H. hiunuli, is of a 

 pure white colour, and this, coupled with its odd habit of hovering in large 

 numbers over the meadows, just at dusk, has caused it to be known as the 

 Ghost-moth, and the family are often spoken of by this name, though also 

 known as Swifts, on account of the rapid flight of some of the smaller 

 species. 



The scientific name is derived from the Greek v/7r ia.A.05, which means 

 a shivering fit, a nightmare, a fever attended with violent shivering. Those 

 who have hunted for these moths will appreciate the aptness of the name. 



In North America there are a number of species, and in every 

 Province of Canada one or more of them is to be found, but good series 

 of specimens are in few collections, not because the moths are really rare 

 in nature, but because their habits and life-histories are little understood. 

 Unfortunately, also, the literature on the subject is meagre, and the question 

 of which of the species on the lists are really distinct, and which are 

 varieties or synonyms, is a very puzzling one. 



The best known species in the East is probably Harris's Silver-spotted 

 Ghost-moth, H. argenteo-maculatus, but as I am more familiar with the 

 habits of our local species, H. thule, Strk., it will probably be best to 

 select this. The Island of Montreal seems to be the headquarters of this 

 moth, though its habitat extends to Ottawa in a westerly direction, probably 

 north as far as the base of the Laurentian Mountains, but lack of 

 entomologists to the east and south makes it, at present, impossible to 

 limit the range in these directions. It is very regular in appearance, 



June, 1909 



