THE YOUNG NATUEALIST 



203 



when about to emerge. I once, in turning 

 over a stone, exposed a pupa that afterwards 

 produced lupuUmis. It was in a slight silken 

 tube, and the moment it was uncovered it 

 wriggled backwards by moving those abdo- 

 minal segments with what seemed a circular 

 motion, and it was quickly hidden from view. 

 The imagines may be recognised at once by 

 their extremely short antennae ; those of 

 humuli, the largest species, whose wings ex- 

 pand from two inches to nearly three, are 

 never more than a quarter of an inch in 

 length. Besides this marked peculiarity, 

 there are several others that are not met 

 with in combination in any other genus. 

 The abdomen is long and comparatively 

 slender ; the wings are very long in propor- 

 tion to their breadth, and they do not over- 

 lap at the base. Besides these, the sexes 

 always differ, the female being larger and 

 duller coloured. Their flight is also very 

 peculiar, but as that of the different species 

 varies considerably it will be more conveni- 

 ent to speak of this under their respective 

 heads. It may, however, be said here that 

 the generic name Hepialus is derived from 

 the peculiar flight, the derivation being 

 according to The Accentuated List — "Hepia- 

 lus, a fever ; from the fitful alternating 

 flight of these insects." The markings of 

 all the British species but one are somewhat 

 alike in character, and may be described as 

 a pale irregular band or line commencing at 

 the tip of the wing, crossing to the hind 

 margin, and then extending towards the 

 base. In humuli^ however, the male is with- 

 out markings, except in the variety Heth- 

 Icmdica, and those of the female are darker, 

 not lighter, than the ground colour, though 

 otherwise similar in character. They are 

 all summer insects, appearing on the wing 

 from June to August. 



Humuli (L.),the Ghost Moth.— Whether 

 this insect got its common name from 

 the white colour of the male, or its pecu- 



liar mode of flight, I am not prepared to 

 say, but it is sufficiently common in country 

 church yards to have attracted the attention 

 of the superstitious, and the manner in 

 which it flies back and forward over a short 

 space, almost like the vibrations of a pendu- 

 lum, is certainly curious enough to make 

 even those wonder who are not superstit- 

 ious. There are few beginners who will not 

 have seen this insect on a summer evening, 

 waving to and fro as it were over one spot 

 of ground, suddenly taking a longer flight 

 and often returning to fly back and forward 

 over the same spot once more. I have heard 

 it said that when this mode of flight is 

 adopted, there is a female concealed in the 

 grass or herbage below, but this is certainly 

 not always the case. It may be intended to 

 attract the females, which fly quite as freely 

 as the males, but do not adopt this vibratory 

 mode. I have more than once noticed a 

 female fly towards the male when it was 

 hovering to and fro, and it immediately 

 abandoned this regular flight to fly after 

 her or follow her down among the herbage. 

 This looks as though the female was attrac- 

 ted to the male, reversing the usual order 

 of the male being attracted to the female. 

 It might also be conjectured that the white 

 colour of the male, very conspicuous in the 

 twilight, enables the female to see it, as it 

 flies back and forward. This is rendered all 

 the more likely by the probability of the fe- 

 male of hectus being attracted to the male 

 as will be found when we come to that 

 species. Though I have spoken of the male 

 humuli hovering over one spot of ground, 

 this is not strictly correct. It flies in the 

 manner described, but very gradually 

 changes its position, moving a little at a 

 time; and if hovering over a concealed 

 female, it might be thought she was moving 

 through the herbage, but if he is flying to 

 attract the opposite sex, it may be suggested 

 that this changing of his place, is in order 

 that he may change the back ground, so that 



