278 THE GHOST MOTH. 



for a length of time together in a very irregular 

 flight, rising, and falling, and balancing about in a 

 space not exceeding a few yards in circumference 

 an action not observable in any other, and fully 

 indicating this moth. This procedure is not the 

 meaningless vagary of the hour, but a frolicsome 

 dance, the wooing of its mate, which lies concealed 

 in the herbage over which it sports. The two in- 

 sects are something similar in their general form, 

 but very differently marked. The male exhibitor 

 is known by its four glossy, satiny, white wings, 

 bordered with buff; the lady reposer has her upper 

 wings of a tawny yellow, spotted and banded with 

 deep brown. They are very inert creatures, easily 

 captured ; and their existence appears to be of very 

 short duration, as we soon cease to observe them, 

 either in action or at rest. The male probably be- 

 comes the prey of every bird that feeds by night ; 

 his colour and his actions rendering him particu- 

 larly obnoxious to dangers of this nature ; and the 

 frequency with which we find his wings scattered 

 about, points out the cause of death to most of 

 them. The bat pursues with great avidity all 

 those creatures that fly in the evening ; and by its 

 actions it seems to meet with constant employment, 

 and has greater probability of success, than some 

 insectivorous birds that feed by day, as all the my- 

 riads which abound at this time are the sole prey 

 of itself and a few nocturnal ramblers. From this 

 singular flight in the twilight hour, haunting as it 

 were one particular spot, the fancy of some collec- 



