306 THE BOMBYCINA. 



a solitary example of the possession of a voice by an 

 Articulated animal. Innocent as the Death's-head 

 Moth may be, of being the cause or even the har- 

 binger of misfortune, one of his practices most cer- 

 tainly justifies his being held in some degree of ill- 

 repute by Bee-keepers. Either from the shortness of 

 his trunk, which may not enable him to get conve- 

 niently at the juices of flowers, or from innate laziness, 

 the Moth exhibits a most unprincipled desire to ap- 

 propriate the sweet food collected by the industrious 

 Bees, to his own nourishment, and he accordingly 

 invades the hive with the greatest boldness and feeds 

 greedily upon the honey, without the least dread of 

 the stings of the Bees, which, indeed, appear to be 

 too much frightened to attack the intruder. 



Having concluded the last section with a short ac- 

 count of the Death's-head Moth, it may not be out 

 of place to commence this one with a species which 

 has received the equally ominous title of the Ghost 

 Moth, especially as it happens to be one of the most 

 abundant species of the tribe to which it belongs. 

 The origin of the singular name given to this insect 

 may be easily explained by a reference to the habits 

 of the creature. The caterpillar of the Ghost Moth 

 (Hepialus Humuli) feeds upon the roots of plants, and 

 undergoes its transformations under ground in a cocoon 

 formed of fragments of its food. About the middle 

 of June the perfect insects make their appearance, 

 when the females, which have yellow wings, with 

 darker streaks and spots, keep themselves pretty close 

 amongst the herbage, or only take short flights from 

 one place of concealment to another, whilst the white 



