BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 
Thew aes and Habits. 
By H. W. B. Moore. 
To the July number of this journal I contributed an article on the 
“Ways and Habits of Caterpillars,” and I shall now mention a few 
facts illustrative of the ~ Ways and Habits of our Butterflies and Moths,” 
the ultimate forms Caterpillars assume. 
Butterflies are diurnal in their habits, moths nocturnal. There are, 
however, exceptions to these rules, some butterflies being nocturnal or 
crepuscular, and some imoths diurnal, the exceptions being g, as would be 
expected, more numerous among the latter, since these are so much more 
abundant in number and kinds than the former. The various species of 
Caligo, Brassolis and Opsiphanes, may be pointed out as butterflies that 
may be observed to be active in the evening twilight. I have frequently 
seen males and females of Brassolis sophorw besporting themselves at 
and after sunset. The members of the Brassoline are the only butter- 
flies I can name that are not strictly diurnal. 
Many butterflies are essentially creatures of the sun and love the 
open. On the other hand, there are many which love concealment, and 
consequently keep beneath or among the thick, low bush on dams and 
the dense undergrowth in forests and gardens, or alight on the bare, dark 
earth in the shade of trees. The Satyridz afford the best examples of 
this class. Most of them are of sombre hues which admirably suit 
their retiring habits, while others have smoky transparent wings, 
which render the owners virtually invisible when they alight on bare 
patches of humus-covered earth in the forest gloom. Huptychia hermes, 
a rather small, dark brown insect with a row of eye-spots round the 
border of the undersurface of the wings, is very common in the dense 
parts of the Botanic Gardens, and among the thick crop of weeds which 
usually crown our dams. Late in the afternoon between five and six 
oclock, it will often leave its bushy fastnesses in numbers and seek the 
open to sip moisture from discarded bits of sugar cane. Those Satyrids 
with transparent wings, certain species of Hztera, belong to the forests, 
and begin to be met with a few miles up No. 1 Canal, on the West Bank. 
Among moths there are several families containing forms that are 
diurnal in habits to a greater or less degree. Among the Tineids there 
may be mentioned as strictly diurnal the species of Gauris, broad-winged 
insects, dark orange and yellow, blended so as to form exquisite patterns, 
and often olittering with gilded or silvery streaks or points. It is the 
delight of these insects to settle on leaves exposed to the blazing sun, 
and there display the richness of their colours. Some other Tineids, 
