AGRIUS CONVOLVULI. 371 



is very similar to that of their wings, and since they are quite immovable 

 at this time they are exceedingly well hidden from their enemies. A 

 figure of two moths paired is given (Joe. cit., p. 78, fig. 1 ). The males give 

 out a very perceptible odour of musk which may have some attraction 

 for the opposite sex (E.M.M., v., p. 206). In the Vaudois mountains, 

 in Piedmont, in 1901, the species was exceedingly abundant, large 

 numbers being observed, the species being frequently seen on the wing 

 in the daytime when they were more wary, active, and difficult of 

 approach than at dusk when they sucked the nectar from the flowers of 

 a large Salvia, particularly abundant round Bobbie. On August 13th, 

 between Bobbie and Au Pra, a specimen was observed in full activity 

 feeding at 4.30 p.m., and another on the mountains directly south of 

 Bobbie, at 12.30 noon, on August 15th, the weather being dull, whilst 

 on the 17th, on the mountain-path leading from Au Pra to the Col de 

 la Croix, at an elevation of considerably over 6000ft., a fine $ flew 

 straight at me and was brought down with a swift stroke that had to 

 be executed almost before there was time to think. Its flight in the 

 daytime was particularly bird-like, and, on the rough ground a short 

 distance above Bobbie, up the Pellice Valley, we observed no fewer 

 than five examples hovering at one time, well within the area of a 

 couple of square yards, with the wings repeatedly drawn up at a some- 

 what sharp angle over the body, and then suddenly dropped and 

 spread forward. Others have noticed its day-flying habits, e.g., 

 Mengelbir took an imago in bright sunshine at St. Moritz; Briggs 

 notes (in lift.) 2 specimens taken at Lynmouth in 1901, between 11 

 a.m. and 1 p.m. ; Goss that a $ was taken flying in the morning sun- 

 shine near Surbiton, on August 24th, 1901 ; Hadfield records two flying 

 at noon at Newark ; Sutton notes a specimen flying on September 6th, 

 1887, during the daytime in Battersea Park Road, and records one as 

 coming to some flowers held in the hand in broad daylight in 1887, at 

 Salcombe. Of its remarkable flight at dusk many authors have enthus- 

 iastically written. Barrett notes (E.M.M., xxiv., p. 102): "The move- 

 ments of this species resemble, in ease and grace, those of a swallow. 

 There is something wonderfully lovely in their manner of glancing from 

 flower to flower, or skimming round the beds. By moving gently, with 

 little perceptible movement towards them, it is easy to watch them for 

 10 minutes at a time, sometimes within a few inches, examining flower 

 after flower, then circling round or gliding to another part of the bed, 

 hovering about 2 inches from each flower, and probing its nectary 

 with a proboscis from 3 to 4 inches long. The petunias and verbenas 

 get a share of attention, as also occasionally the neighbouring geraniums, 

 and even the long tubular flowers of a large species of Datura 

 are not entirely overlooked, but not one of these plants approaches 

 in attractiveness to the Nicotiana, to which the moths always return 

 and about which they spend most of their time. The slightest 

 sudden movemenf alarms them and causes an instantaneous retreat, 

 but, as long ar we move gradually and smoothly, they seem to 

 disregard us, and a lighted lantern is actually an object of curiosity. 

 It is most curious to see one of these moths, on the approach of 

 the light, leave the flowers and hover in front of it, then rise 

 higher, pause in front of one's face with uplifted wings . . 

 then pass with a loud hum close to one's ear, and return as though 

 satisfied to the flowers, This soecies does not hold itself bound 



