DESCRIPTIVE NOTICES OF CONSPICUOUS SPECIES 141 



in blossom ; it flies in meadows towards dusk with ex- 

 treme swiftness, threading its way between the stems of 

 the grass ; sometimes we meet with it in extreme pro- 

 fusion, and then the grass seems alive with its mazy 

 flight. When seen at rest (and we sometimes find it on 

 palings or in houses whither it has been attracted by 

 the light), it appears a most sluggish creature, and when 

 we touch it it will probably fall down as though dead, 

 no one would then conceive it was the swift of the 

 previous evening. 



FAMILY I. 

 HEPIALUS HUMULL THE GHOST MOTH. 



Like the preceding, this is also abundant throughout 

 the country. 



The expansion of the wings of the male is about 2 

 inches, of the females sometimes as much as 2 4 inches. 

 The male has all the wings snowy-white, with the costse 

 and fringes brownish. The female has the fore-wings 

 deep, dull yellow, with an oblique streak towards the 

 hinder margin of a brick-red, and some irregular central 

 spots of the same colour ; the hind- wings are of a dull 

 lead-colour, at the base shading into dull orange at the 

 costa and hind- margin. 



The larva is whitish-ochreous, with the head reddish- 

 brown, and a reddish-brown plate on the anterior part of 

 the second segment ; it feeds underground on the roots 

 of hop, burdock, nettle, etc., from autumn to spring. 



The perfect insect appears in the beginning of June, 

 frequenting meadows, and other grassy places; the males 

 have a peculiar flight, oscillating backwards and for- 

 wards like a pendulum, but remaining for some time at 



