6d PLATE CCLXXIV. 



F I G. lU. 

 PHALiENA HECTA. 



Golden Swift Moth. 

 SPECIFIC CHARACTER, 



AND 



STNONTMS. 



Wings deflexed. Yellow brown. Two oblique, whitifh, or 

 yellow bands, confiding of interrupted and irregular fpots, acrofs the 

 anterior wings. 



Phal^na Hecta: lutea, alis deflexls: primoribus fafciis duabus 

 albidis obliquis pundlatas interruptis. Fn. Sv. liJ^^.--^ 

 Gmel. Linn. Syji. Nat. Ent.p. 26i'].fp. 85. 



Hetialus Hectus. Fab. Ent. SyJi. T. 3. p. 2. p. 6. Sp. 4. 

 Degeer. Inf. I. fab, 7. fg. II. 



This fpecies is common in the fkirts of woods in May and June. 

 The colours in the male Infeft are more vivid than the female, and 

 the fpots on the anterior wings in particular are of fuch a beautiful 

 yellow, that Englifli colle£lors have termed this kind the Golden 

 Swift Moth. 



It commences its flight earlier in the evening than any other of 

 the noc3;urnal lepidopterous infe6ls. Its manner of flying is very 

 fmgular, and attracted the notice of Linnaeus, who aptly compares 

 it to the motion of the pendulum of a clock. 



The larva is unknown : it is fuppofed t© feed on the roots of 

 plants under ground. 



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