VARIETIES IN FLIGHT. 71 



herself is concerned, who, by-the-way, is a "bonafide " beauty 

 ivithout paint," we have always found her far too coy and uncer- 

 tain to be able to count upon her special appearance with any 

 such regularity. 



Gilbert White states that a little attention would enable an 

 observer to distinguish the different species of birds by the 

 character of their flight ; and the same remark holds good of 

 insects, but more especially of the Butterflies aiid Moths. The 

 Skippers tell the story of their flight in the name they bear ; 

 and in the same way that gay little visitor to our gardens, the 

 Humming-Bird Hawk-Moth has earned its name, its habit of 

 poising itself over flowers, and the vivacity of its movements as 

 it darts from point to point, giving it a striking resemblance to 

 the tiny feathered gems of the American tropical forests. In 

 the dusk of evening, the snowy Ghost-Moth oscillates to and fro 

 over the tops of the long grass, in the fields and churchyards'"; 

 and in broad daylight, in crowded city thoroughfares, the littlo 

 Vapourer-Moth hurries wildly along in its zigzag path, and 

 like that famous pig immortalized by Leigh Hunt, in his essay 

 " On the Graces and Anxieties of Pig-driving," dances " up and 

 down all manner of streets." The insect most famous for the 

 elegance of its flight is the White Admiral, so named from an 

 oblique white band which stretches across the sooty upper 

 surface of its wings; and there is a story told of a veteran 

 collector, who when no longer able to take the field afoot, used 

 regularly to drive out to the woods and take his seat on a gate, 

 where he could feast his eyes in watching the graceful evolutions 

 of his favourite fly. 



One day, perhaps, we shall see this old gentleman on canvas, 

 " happy as a king ;" and the picture will form a capital com- 

 panion to that of the gouty Waltonian, muffled up in his bath- 

 chair, plying the angle in a water-butt. 



But we must pause. Let us say, in concluding, that the 

 pleasures of entomology are only half enjoyed by the stay-at- 

 home student. In order to know what the delights of the 

 science really are, one must go forth afield, and study the busy 

 tribes in their own proper homes ; and there is this additional 

 advantage in so doing, that, besides attaining his special object 

 in observing or collecting insects, the entomologist enjoys, as few 



