402 Timehri 
narrow and elongated, with hairy wings that scintillate with pearly blue 
spots, or that have the appearance of being glossed over with silver, - 
alight on leaves in the brilliant sunshine, and circle round in a mad dance, 
now from right to left, now from left to right, their long antenne 
quivering the while. Many of these may easily be mistaken by an 
inexperienced observer for neuropterous insects,—insects of and entirely 
ditterent order. 
As to Cydimon leilus with fore-wings black and crossed transversely 
by several brilliant green bars, and with hind wings having white-edged 
scallops and a long white tail, it is as diurnal as the most diurnal of 
butterflies. None the less, it sometimes flies at nights to the 
electric arc lights on the streets, or even to lights in houses. 
It belongs to the family Uraniide, and is one of the most showy 
of our large moths. It is popularly known as the Christmas “ butterfly,” 
as it is thought to herald the advent of Christmas. Its diurnal sun-loving 
habits along with the brilliance of its livery may well cause it to be 
popularly considered as a butterfly, During the mid-year months of the 
year it is also often abundant, and was particularly so this year, having 
been present in thousands during June to August all along the coast from 
Berbice to Essequebo. 
The family of the Sphingidz or hawkmoths contains forms known 
as the humming-bird hawk-moths, species of Macroglossa, that are fre- 
quently met with by day. In their manner of flight and feeding they 
behave much like humming birds, but are seen at close range to lack 
the latter’s sparkling iridiscent flashes of colours. On wings vibrating 
with incredible speed, they poise before a flower to sip the nectar with 
their tongue, and then dart oft like an arrow to another. Quite bold they 
are too, for they halt at a flower so close to us that we can distinctly hear 
the hum of their rapidly vibrating wings. Only a moment they give us 
for admiring and studying them at such proximity ; at the next they are 
ten or twenty yards away hovering before another flower. So humming- 
bird-like are their actions and general appearance on the wing that the 
great naturalist Bates records in his book, “The Naturalist on the 
Amazons,” that he sometimes shot them by mistake for humming-birds. 
One of our commonest is Macroglossa tuntalus with a broad striking 
white band on the middle of the upper surface of the abdomen. 
Castnia liceus, of the family Castniide, richly hued, shot with 
brilliant green and violet reflections according to the angle at which the 
light strikes, the caterpillar of which is so destructive to our sugar canes, 
is diurnal, as are other members of this fine family. 
The big family of the Syntomids could furnish us with several 
examples of moths that are diurnal, or somewhat so, in habits. Dyeladia 
aaunthobasis is such an one. It flies about the leaves of low-growing 
plants by day, and may be overlooked as one of the Lycide, a family of 
beetles said to be unpalatable to such insect enemies as birds, while the 
large-bodied Jsanthrene melas looks rather bee-like, as, late in the after- 
noon, it deliberately wings its way from flower to flower. 
