HEMARIS TITYUS. 535 



on the wing at Stubby Copse, and Merrifield has captured imagines 

 about 3 p.m. flying at ragged robin flowers in an oak wood at 

 Holmbush. The moth, however, appears to dearly love the hot 

 sun, and Raynor notes it as hovering over the flowers of Ajuga 

 reptans in the sunny ridings of a large wood near Wragby ; abundant 

 at flowers of lousewort ( Pedicularis sylvatica) at Burghclere (Sladen), 

 at flowers of the same plant in Ashdown Forest (Nicholson), also 

 at Wan Fell (Britten), and in the Bristol district, in damp meadows 

 (Hudd), at flowers of red rattle in a rough field surrounded by 

 woods (Hellins), more common than usual in 1893, feeding at 

 flowers of bluebells at Ringwood (Fowler) ; at flowers on the 

 railway bank at Wood Fidley, in the New Forest (Wells), also 

 at flowers on the railway bank near Wreay (Thwaytes), 

 and in gardens at Folkestone (Knaggs). Flies earlier in the 

 season in the Lincoln district than H. fuciformis, and is partial 

 to the barely-opened blooms of Ajuga reptans in the drives 

 of woods (Musham), at thistle flowers at Oxton (Wilkinson). 

 Some 20 — 30 examples netted over flowers of Pedicularis palustris 

 near Glendalough. In making this record Carrington notes that it is 

 best to always strike down while the moth hovers over the flower, and 

 then to lift the bottom of the net, when the insect will flutter 

 upwards. Kane says that it appears to be rather fickle in its habits, 

 disappearing suddenly from its usual habitat without apparent 

 cause, also that it is easily taken when feeding at the flowers of bugle 

 or marsh-rattle, but that, on very hot days, its activity on the wing 

 is prodigious, as it scarcely pauses to taste the flowers and flies as 

 rapidly as M. stellataj'itm. Carpenter observes ( Proc. Sth. Loud. 

 Ent. Soc., 1894, p. 52) that the moth has the habit, when on the 

 wing, of getting well into the bushes and undergrowth, a proceeding 

 that no doubt soon helps to rid it of its surface-scales. Fro- 

 hawk exhibited at the meeting of the South London Entom- 

 ological Society, on August 10th, 1893, a specimen of H. tityus 

 and a species of humble-bee, Bombus agronim, which the moth mimics, 

 both captured in company at rhododendron flowers in the New Forest. 

 Curtis says that the imagines are remarkably swift on the wing and 

 make a humming noise similar to that made by a humble-bee. Bartel 

 observes that the moths in flight look conspicuously similar to the 

 humble-bee, which is flying about at the same time, so that it 

 needs a practised eye to distinguish them. Its flight is, however, 

 more rapid than that of the humble-bee ; the moth circles in larger 

 curves, shooting off like a dart to a considerable distance. It is 

 to be met with especially in luxuriant wood-meadows and places 

 where there are plenty of flowers, flying in sunshine to the flowers 

 of many plants. 



Time of appearance. — From the middle of May to the middle 

 of June is the usual time of appearance of this species in the 

 British Islands — May, June, and July in Connemara (Lawless) — 

 but there is no record of even a partial second-brood, unless this 

 Connemara reference be one ; on the continent, however, double- 

 broods or partial double-broods are not infrequent, in southern Europe 

 apparently the rule, whilst in northern Africa, at Tangier, Meade- 

 Waldo records imagines in fair numbers at the end of January, 

 1900 {Ent., xxxiv., p. 206), suggesting continuous-broodedness. 



