CLEAR-WINGS. 149 



in force by a robber who was interrupted on his way 

 into the tent by the appearance of its inmate, an 

 officer. He was so completely deceived, that he 

 actually hung his helmet on one of the branches, 

 which branch was in fact the robber's leg. The 

 joke was almost too good, but the stump stood fast, 

 until the officer leaned his back against it. Officer 

 and stump came to the ground together, and the 

 stump escaped, carrying off the helmet as a trophy. 

 I think that he deserved it. 



I conclude this chapter with a short notice of five 

 beautiful and curious little moths. 



The first of these, the "Currant Clear- wing," is 

 frequently mistaken for a gnat or a fly, and it is 

 sometimes a difficult task to persuade those who are 

 unaccustomed to insects that it can be a moth. As 

 a general rule, the wings of moths are covered with 

 feathers, and many are even as downy in their tex- 

 ture as the plumage of the owl. But there is a 

 family of moth, called the clear-wings, whose wings 

 are as transparent as those of bees or flies. Some of 

 these are as large as hornets, and resemble these 

 insects closely in general aspect. 



Some fourteen or fifteen species of these curious 

 creatures are found in England ; and each of them 

 bears so close a likeness to some other insect, that it 

 is named accordingly. For example, the species 

 which we are now examining is called the " gnat- 

 like Egeria," another is the " bee-like," another the 



