MOTHS. 



591 



¥xQ. 77. — Ghost Moth (female) {ITepiahts humuli). 

 Nat. size. 



Our swift moths (Kepialidas) have rather long wings and very short 

 antennae. They exhibit many remarkable peculiarities ; the wings are separ- 

 ated at the base, the connecting link between them being not by a bristle, 

 as in many moths, but by a long lobe. The fore and hind-wings have 

 similar neuration, and the hind-legs of the males are more or less aborted in 

 some of the species. The 

 ghost moth, Hepialus hu- 

 muli (Linn. ), is common in 

 every meadow, where the 

 male, which is white on the 

 upper - side of the wings, 

 and brown below, flies at 

 dusk with a peculiar hover- 

 ing motion. The female 

 has yellow fore - wings 

 blotched with red, and the 

 hind - wings and under- 

 surface are brown. The 



European swifts feed on the roots of plants, but there are some splendid 

 green Australian species, measuring four or five inches across the wings, the 

 larvfe of which feed on the wood of trees. Owing to the unusual neuration 

 and mode of connection of the wings in the Hepialidce, Professor Comstock 

 has recently proposed to associate this family with the Micropterygidw, a, 

 family which used to be placed among the Tinea, and to treat them as form- 

 ing a primary division (in fact, a sub-order) of the order Lepidoptera. In 

 this innovation he has since been followed by other authors. 



The NoctucE are a large group of stout-bodied moths. To it belong many 

 of the moths which we see ilying over flowers, or about a candle in the even- 

 ing. Most of our species measure from one to two inches in expanse, and 



many are of dull colours. Some have 

 metallic spots, or letter-like markings, 

 like the burnished brass moth, Plusia 

 chrysitis (Linn.), which has large bronzy- 

 green markings on its brown fore- wings ; 

 or the violet-grey gamma moth, Phisia 

 gamma (Linn.), a very common day-flying 

 species, with a white mark resembling the 

 Greek letter y on each of its fore-wings. 

 Others are brown, with black streaks and 

 dashes on the wings, like the heart-and- 

 dart moth, Agrotis exclamatioiiis (Liim.). 

 The larvae of the dart moths are often very destructive, as they live just below 

 the surface of the ground, where tliey eat through the roots of plants. 

 There are many closely-allied species, and the Americans call them "cut- 

 worms." 



If we toss about a heap of hay, or disturb the leaves of a strawberry-bed, 

 we are very likely to start a specimen of one of the common yellow under- 

 winc moths, Tripha:.na (Hiibn.), which, after a short headlong flight, will 

 settle again, and soon disappear. In these moths the fore-wings are brown 

 and comparatively long and narrow, and the hind-wmgs are very broad, and 

 of a bright yellow, with a black border. In tropical countries other yellow 

 underwinged butterflies are found, Ophideres (Boisd.), measuring three inches 



fig. 78.— Burnished Brass Moth 

 {Plusia chrysitis). Nat. size. 



