THE GOAT-MOTH. 



53* 



The common Swift Moths of England are well known, more especially the GHOST- 

 MO IH, an insect so called from a rather unique habit in which it indulges. The two 

 sexes are very different, the upper surface of the male being of a bright silvery white- 

 ness, while the female is dull brown. In both sexes the under surfaces are brown. 

 The female lurks in the grass towards even-tide, and is there rendered invisible by her 

 sombre coloring. The male hovers just above her, remaining in one spot for a won- 

 derful length of time, its white wings glittering ghost-like in the air, and, altogether pre- 

 senting a decidedly spectral aspect, which is increased by the fondness of this insect for 

 hunting churchyards, where the grass is mostly green and luxuriant. If the creature 

 be alarmed, it disappears like magic, vanishes utterly from sight like an extinguished 

 spark leaving no trace of its presence, nor giving the least sign of the direction in which 

 it has departed. After a little pause, the white unearthly meteor is seen in precisely the 

 same position, having become visible as mysteriously as it vanished. 



WOOD LEOPARD. ZteMM eescull. 



GOAT -MOTH. Cossus lignipcrda. (And larva.) 



The method by which this alternate vanishing and reappearance is managed is simple 

 enough, consisting merely in taking advantage of the different colors of the upper and 

 under surface of the wings. As long as the moth is undisturbed, it hovers quietly, ex- 

 hibiting the white upper surface. But when alarmed, it drops to the ground or settles 

 on some plant, where it hangs so as to display only the brown under surface, and is 

 consequently as invisible as its hidden mate. Many persons have been greatly terrified 

 by this moth. 



THE well-known GOAT-MOTH is, next to the death's-head moth, one of the largest of 

 the British Lepidoptera, its body being thick, stout, and massive, and its wings wide 

 and spreading. 



The reader may perhaps have observed certain large round holes in the trunks of 

 trees into which a finger can be readily thrust, and out of which an empty chrysalis 

 case often projects. These are the burrows made by the caterpillar of the Goat-moth, and 

 often are very destructive to the trees. The larva itself is but little smaller than that of 

 the death's-head moth, and is by no means an attractive-looking creature. Its body is 



