n8 



Swift Moths. 



[may, 



rapid vibration of her wings. After pairing, the female flies 

 among herbage and drops her eggs as she flies. The cater- 

 pillars live underground, and feed from late June on through 

 July and to the next April or May, i.e., they remain in the 

 caterpillar stage all the winter, feeding more or less continu- 

 ously in open winters, and going a little deeper, during frost, 

 for protection. Pupation of the full-fed caterpillar takes place 

 at the end of April, in May, and in June. 



Hepialus lupulinus is common over England and Wales, 

 but not so common in Scotland, although it has been taken 

 as far north as the Orkneys; it is also found in Ireland. 



Hepialus humuli. — The caterpillars of this moth are also 

 troublesome enemies. A correspondent of the Board who 

 sent one of the caterpillars taken from a carrot tunnelled by 

 it, wrote that the caterpillars had been very destructive to 

 this crop, and that frequently he dug them up with the spade 

 whilst digging a new plot. Curtis in 1848 recorded a similar 

 attack on a carrot, the caterpillar being found in "a cavity 

 2 or 3 inches long." Theobald and others have recorded this 

 caterpillar as destructive to the roots of hops ; on the Continent 

 it is a proved enemy of hops, tunnelling in the roots. Car- 

 penter has recorded the caterpillar as attacking potatoes and 

 the roots of oats in Roscommon. Barrett gives as food-plants 

 dandelion, dead-nettle, Jerusalem artichoke, and asparagus. 

 It feeds also at the roots of burdock, nettle, and dock. 



The Ghost Moth is common in Britain from north to south, 

 and in Ireland. 



Description. — Moth: The moth measures from ij to 2§ 

 inches in spread of wings. There is a marked colour differ- 

 ence between the male and the female. All the four wings 

 of the male are usually silvery-white, but the hind wings may 

 be greyish. The fore-wings of the female are broader and 

 are yellow, with orange or brown-red markings; the hind 

 wings of the female are greyish, and tinged with red at the 

 apex. The female varies somewhat in colour, and there is 

 in Shetland a variety in which the colour of the male 

 approaches that of the female. 



Egg: The eggs are small and round. Barrett describes 

 them as greenish when first laid, but becoming black. 



Larva: The caterpillar measures ij- inches when full 



