324 TAPER-BEARING MOTHS. 



wood and wild, with " een of burning coal " luminous eyes, 

 which either serve as travelling lamps in their nocturnal 

 flights, or are intended for the purpose of hero torches or 

 lights of love. The latter is the general supposition ; but in 

 this case they might be expected to belong more peculiarly (as 

 with the glow-worm) to such wingless females as the " Lady 

 Vapourer " above noted, or to the winged ones, which are, for 

 the most part, of a scarcely less stay-at-home character; 

 whereas it has been observed,* that the candle-light sufferers 

 (many of them taper-bearers) are generally of the opposite sex. 

 But for whatever purpose they may be bestowed, the fre- 

 quent possession by moths of these tiny sparks, and probable 

 perception of them in one another, may fairly account for 

 light, artificial, and on a scale of such comparative magnifi- 

 cence as that of a wax taper, or even a farthing dip, being an 

 attractive object to the bamboozled instinct of our nocturnal 

 fliers. Yet why, then, are gnats and that large Tipula known 

 as Father Longlegs, tempted so often by the like allurements 

 to the like act of involuntary self-destruction ? In truth, we 

 cannot say ; so, leaving conjecture as to the uses and the con- 

 sequences of possessing eyes of light, we shall only add, that 

 among the moths by which they are possessed, are the " Con- 

 volvulus Hawk," the " Great Goat," the " Golden Tail," and 

 the " Y ;" although the latter, as we have noticed, flies mostly 

 in the sunshine. 



* By Reaumur. 



