HEPIALUS. 



151 



female, the fore-v;ings are pale yellow, streaked and spotted 

 with brick-red. The hind-wings are light grey, merging into 

 pale reddish-yellow towards the edges. The under side 

 resembles the upper, but is without markings, and the fore- 

 wings are sometimes shaded with darker. 



The variety H. tliidensis, which occurs constantly in the 

 Shetland Islands, and rarely in Holland, is peculiar in that the 

 male has more or less of the markings of the female. Some 

 specimens are white, with grey or reddish markings on the 

 fore-wings, whilst others have yellow fore-wings marked with 

 dusky or reddish spots, and grey hind-wings, while others again 

 are dusky. 



The larva feeds on the root of the hop, and various other low 

 plants from August till the following spring. It is yellowish, with 

 a yellowish-brown head and cervical plate, and with scattered 

 short black hairs over the body. The pupa is elongated and 

 of a reddish-brown colour, with short wing-cases, and fine 

 booklets on the abdominal segments. It is enclosed in a large 

 cocoon, formed of earth and particles of sand, in the ground. 

 The moth appears in June and July, and has a peculiar slow 

 hovering flight in meadows at dusk, the white fore-wings of the 

 male appearing and disappearing in a manner that is thought 

 to have given rise to the name of Ghost Motli ; or the name 

 may have been derived from the moth having been noticed in 

 abundance in churchyards. 



THE WOOD SWIFT. HEPIALUS SYLVINUS. 



[Plate CXXFL, Fii;.4.) 



Nodua sylvina^ Linnaeus, Faun. Suec, p. 306 (1761); Esper, 



Schmett. iv., p. 32, Taf. 82, figs. 2-4 (1786). 

 Bomhyx hajma, Denis & Schiffermiiller, Syst. Verz. Schmett. 

 Wien. p. 62, no. 2 (1776); Iliibner, Eur. Schmett. iii., 

 figs. 207, 252, 300 (1804?) 



