I9i r.J 
Swift Moths. 
117 
chrysanthemums, and lily-of-the-valley. In the literature 
there is a long list of host-plants : — grasses, oats, snowdrop, 
colchicum, gladiolus, lily, peas, beans, strawberries, rasp- 
berries, parsnip, celery, parsley, potatoes, horehound, white 
•and purple dead nettles, phlox, Chelone barbata, lettuce, 
auriculas, and dock. 
Description. — Moth: The moth varies in colour and in size. 
In spread of wing the measurement is from 1 inch to 1 \ inch. 
The male has the thorax and abdomen yellow-brown. The 
front wings are brown — sometimes lighter, sometimes darker 
— with a white stripe that runs from the middle of the base 
of the wing, and parallel for a short distance with the hind 
edge of the wing, when it then suddenly bends and runs 
obliquely across the wing to near the apex. About the 
middle of each fore-wing is a white spot or dash. The hind- 
wings are purple-brown or smoke-coloured, with pale brown 
fringes. The female moth has the same general colour as 
the male; the markings, however, are not so distinct, and 
may be absent. Antennas and legs are short in both sexes. 
Larva: The caterpillar has sixteen legs, and measures four- 
fifths of an inch when full grown. It is whitish or yellowish- 
white in colour; the head is brown, as is also the plate or 
shield on the upper surface of the joint behind the head. The 
other segments of the body show dark or light dots on their 
upper surface, and each dot carries a stiff black hair; the 
spiracles are black. 
Pupa: The pupa is shining red or pale brown, with the head 
and wing cases darker. The segments of the abdomen are 
markedly divided off from one another; five of them have 
horny ridges with projecting teeth on their upper surface, and 
four of them have similar spines on the under surface. The 
pupa is enclosed in a delicate cocoon ; within this cocoon the 
pupa, on being touched, wriggles violently. Before the adult 
moth issues the pupa presses itself out of the cocoon and above 
the surface of the soil so as to allow of emergence of the 
moth. 
Life History. — The moths are found in May and June, but 
stragglers may be found later. They appear about dusk. The 
male is a very active flier; the female is more restful, hanging 
to some grass or other stem, and attracting the male by a 
