SESIA STELLATARUM. 21 



lay, and the larvae are fullfed in late August and September, some 

 of the imagines emerging in October and November, although, in 

 cold seasons, the bulk of the pupae perish without disclosing their 

 imagines. The number of imagines able to adapt themselves to the con- 

 ditions of our winter must be extremely small. Of swift flight, the habit 

 of this species of visiting ships at sea is well-known. We have already 

 stated that Swinton notes that it visits the vessels during daytime 

 as they ride at anchor off the Syrian harbours ; Mathew observes 

 that, when cruising in the Mediterranean, rarely a day passes without 

 the moth being seen about the ship (in litt.). He has recorded 

 several examples seen about H.M.S. Hawke, on August nth-i6th, 

 1898, in the Mediterranean, from 25-80 miles from land, between 

 Gibraltar and Leghorn ; also seen every day on the ship in the 

 Mediterranean whilst going from Gibraltar to Malta, and, on August 

 25th, two days before reaching Plymouth, one was observed flying 

 about the ship. An imago is also noted as being observed 

 on a steamboat several miles off Ramsgate, August 30th, 1856 

 (Powell). We have ourselves seen imagines flying at a tre- 

 mendous pace over the summit of the Little St. Bernard 

 Pass in August, and, on the topmost point of the Col de la 

 Croix, at some 8000 feet elevation, this was one of the species 

 met with, in what may be described as a rocky wilderness. 

 Its ability to fly an immense distance in a short time is known to 

 every one. The amazing rapidity of its flight, its share in the cross- 

 fertilisation of flowers, and its remarkable habit of flying up and 

 down walls and rocks quite devoid of vegetation are equally well 

 known. Fletcher observes ( E?it., xxxiii., p. 129) that the sound 

 made by the wings when poised over a flower on a hillside at 

 Wei-hai-wei was very audible, reminding one of a Bombus, but 

 louder and deeper, whilst Anderson notes (Ent., xxxii., p. 306) 

 that he heard a specimen on rapidly - vibrating wings, at the 

 plants in a conservatory making a loud humming noise, consider- 

 ably louder than that of a humble-bee. Ransom and others have 

 confirmed this statement, and Oldham records that he observed 

 the imagines, from early morning until 7 p.m., at jessamine, honey- 

 suckle, and geraniums, from September 1st — 14th, 1899, at Wisbech S. 

 Mary, the hum of their rapidly-vibrating wings being audible at 

 a distance of several feet, and that, during flight, the long proboscis 

 appeared to be always fully extended, whilst rain seemed to affect 

 them but slightly, as, on two wet days, they were seen busily 

 probing the geraniums for nectar during sharp showers. Shaw 

 observes that he watched a moth on the wing, its wings vibrating 

 so rapidly that they could scarcely be noticed to move at all, the 

 long hairs of its body standing out straight along each side and across 

 the posterior of the body, and states that it inserted its tongue, which 

 protruded an inch or more, into flowers whilst on the wing, showing 

 particular preference for a certain kind of flower — in this case a 

 cream-coloured Viola — ignoring all others, and systematically visiting 

 every flower of this colour in a row ten yards long, missing only 

 those flowers the edges of the petals of which had commenced to 

 turn up, but staying at many a flower that was fully open or had 

 commenced to open. Miiller states (Fertilisation of Flowers, p. 119) 

 that Viola calcarata greatly surpasses Viola tricolor in the size of 



