Feb., i9i6 Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society 21 



THE DANCE OF THE GHOST MOTH. 



Mr. E. D. Keith, of Providence, R. I., writes of his 191 5 ex- 

 periences : " I see great dififerences in collecting conditions since I 

 began in 1900. The past five years especially have brought many 

 changes, making our collecting places few and far between. I 

 have not made many rare captures this year, though some seem 

 worthy of mention. Glcca carnosa came to light; Panchrysia pur- 

 purigera was bred from meadow rue; Autographa hiloha, Oxy- 

 gramma rogationis, Hadena burgessi, Agrotis violaris, Homoptera 

 cingulifera, Xylina disposita, and X. fagina were captured. 

 Many desirable species are growing scarcer from year to year. 

 The only Sphingidae that can be called common are Smerinthus 

 geminatus, Protoparce sexta and P. Carolina. It is the same with 

 many Bombycid« and Noctuidse. My series of Sthenopis 4-macu- 

 latus came from a swamp which is fast being converted into a dump 

 heap, with ashes, tin cans, and other refuse of a city. This little 

 swamp, at one time filled with Viburnums, Vacciniums, Clethra, 

 Alders, Jack-in-the-Pulpits, and other swamp livers, is the home 

 of the Ghost Moth (Hepialus argentcomaculatus) . In early June 

 I start out at twilight, as the robin is singing his evening song. 

 A catbird gives his scolding cry and flits into the bushes. The 

 Maryland yellowthroat says " wait a bit," then becomes silent. 

 Dusk is approaching. Many Geometridge fly over the shrubbery ; 

 Diacrisia virginica and latipennis are common. 



" It is about quarter to eight when I select an opening among 

 the bushes to watch the so-called dance of the males of the Ghost 

 Moth. Each male will give quite a swing like a pendulum, often 

 with an arc of four feet or so. Their flights do not last longer 

 than fifteen or twenty minutes. Sometimes they go away quite a 

 distance, dance, and come back to their former places. I have 

 seen the females come to the males but never found them mated. 

 I have read that the females fly over the herbage, scattering their 

 eggs as they go, — haphazard. I have observed them more than 

 once on alders, crawling with fluttering wings up the main trunks 

 as if they were ovipositing, but I have never found the pova, 

 which are very small. The adult life of this species seems to be 



