136 BBITISH BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 



FAMILY IV. 

 SPHECIA APIFORMIS. THE HORNET-MOTH. 



This occurs in various parts of the country, and is 

 common at Epping and Shrewsbury, and abundant at 

 Cambridge. It is found as far north as the neighbour- 

 hood of Glasgow ; also in the south of Ireland. 



The expansion of the wings is about 1^ inch. All 

 the wings are transparent, only with the cost* of a 

 yellowish-brown, and the hind-margins fringed with 

 brown. The head is yellow. 



The larva is whitish-yellow, with the head blackish - 

 brown. It feeds during the autumn and winter months 

 on the stems and roots of poplar-trees. 



The perfect insect appears towards the end of May 

 and beginning of June, and continues out for some time. 

 It sits sunning itself on the trunks of poplar-trees, and 

 looks then extremely like a hornet or large wasp. 



There is another closely allied species, the Lunar 

 Hornet-moth (Sphecia bembecifurmis), but the head, in- 

 stead of being yellow, is blackish, and the thorax is 

 blackish with a yellow collar. In Sphecia apifoimis the 

 thorax is blackish above, with a yellow patch on each 

 side in front. The perfect insect appears in July. The 

 larva feeds on the wood of the sallow. 



FAMILY IV. 



TROCHILIUM CYNIPIFORME. THE YELLOW- 

 LEGGED CLEAKWING. 



This species occurs in some numbers on the trunks 

 of oak-trees in Hyde Park ; other localities given for it 



