I9i i.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 ij- 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 b}^ a 



