Clearwings. 



147 



r. 



\R. Hamock. 



'Jhe Cl'rrant-Clearwing 

 Moth. 



A familiar, though misunderstood, 

 Insect in gardens where there are 

 currant bushes. The caterpiUar is an 

 internal feeder and bores out the 

 centre of the currant stems — a course 

 of procedure that is followed with 

 other plants by the caterpillars of all 

 the clearwings. In the United States 

 it is known as the currant -borer. The 

 moth is here shown nearly twice thi; 

 natural size. 



Anyone not a naturalist who may come upon the 

 hornet-moth, some May morning, as it sits quietly on the 

 trunk of the })oplar from which it has recently emerged, will 

 be fully justifted in believing it is a queen wasp. Not only is 

 the general appearance that of a wasp, but the hind-body 

 instead of being ffuffx' with its covering of long scales, as 

 in most thick-bodied moths, has them reduced to so small 

 a size that the appearance presented is that of the smooth, 

 hard corselet of the wasp. Further, the hornet-moths 

 curve the hind-bodv in such a way that it becomes much 

 more wasp-like than it would bt- if fully extended as in 

 other moths. The antennae, too, are exactly the shape of 

 the same organs in the wasp. 



Nearh' all this group of moths fly by day, and 

 the thick-bodied species are fond of sitting quietly 

 upon tree-trunks. Now' other moths that expose 

 themselves in this manner are protected either by their 

 colour and markings assimilating closely to the bark 

 and rendering them inconspicuous, or they are 

 stroneh' marked with black con- 



trasting with red or yellow in 

 bold spots or lines. The latter 

 colouring indicates that they are 

 dangerous food, and insectivorous 

 creatures turn away from Insects 

 so marked. Wasps and many 

 other stinging Insects have this colour scheme, and it is 

 quite reasonable to suppose that defence less moths 

 that closely resemble them will escape many dangers 

 that would otherwise beset them. The lunar hornet- 

 moth is very similar to the hornet-moth, except that, 

 whereas the latter has a vellow head and black collar, 

 with a patch of vellow on each shoulder, the former has 

 a black head and yellow collar. The hind-body, too, 

 presents some difference, the black bands being heavier 

 in the hornet-moth and the \t11ow ]->redominating in the 

 lunar hornet. 



The other species, of which there are a dozen natives 

 additional to the two mentioned, are all smaller, and 

 present a close general resemblance to various species of 

 solitary-wasps and ichneumon-wasps — all of them beautiful 

 little creatures that fly in the sunshine and walk over 

 leaves with much the air of the wasps they resemble when 

 searching for caterpillars. All of tluin lia\e long legs, 

 which are dis]:)la\-ed in a wa\- that help> the imposture. 



Photo by] U. Main, F.E.S. 



Orange-tailed Clearwing. 



So remarkably like a stinging Insect 

 does this moth appear when on the wing 

 that for many years it escaped the 

 notice of the moth-hunter ; and it is 

 only within the last ten years that any- 

 thing very definite has been known 

 about its habits. Though in general 

 appearance something like the currant- 

 clearwing, it is readily distinguished by 

 its more robust bcnlyand the spreading 

 orange " tail." 



