Night Flowers 221 



stems. The full-grown moths appear in June, and 

 on any warm, clear evening, from midsummer till 

 frost, they may be seen, hovering like humming- 

 birds above the blossoms of their choice. 



1 'The flowers of the great convolvulus (Fig. 61) 

 or hedge bind-weed close," says Muller, "on cloudy 

 evenings " but on moonlight nights they are all 

 wide awake, and watching for their best friend, the 

 Sphinx convolvuli. In England, where this great 

 night-moth is rare, the hedge bind-weed seldom 

 produces seed, though it may be visited and fer- 

 tilized in the morning hours by the sunshine-lov- 

 ing butterflies. 



But in our warm summer twilights Sphinx con- 

 volvuli is not uncommon, and one may catch him, 

 as he has been caught aforetime, by a naturalist 

 who "stood by a moonlit hedge, overgrown with 

 convolvulus, held thumb and ringer over a flower, 

 and closed its orifice when the moth had entered." 



The pretty roadside saponaria, familiarly known 

 as "bouncing Bet," expands about sundown, and 

 in the twilight its sweets are sipped by sphinx- 

 moths, which, doubtless, help to transfer its pollen. 

 It remains open throughout the following day and 

 entertains butterflies; but the strong fragrance of 

 the flowers at evening shows that night-moths are 



