204 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



if not easily seen in one place he may be in 

 another. One further argument in support 

 of this idea is that the hind wings of himuli 

 are the same colour as the forewings, thus 

 helping to make it still more easily seen, and 

 in which it dififers not only from its own 

 female, but the males of all the others, and 

 it is a remarkable fact that among the extra- 

 ordinary specimens brought from the 

 Shetland Isles, the males marked like 

 the females had dark hind v;ings, and 

 very much in proportion to the extent that 

 the female markings were found on the fore 

 wings of the male, so were the hind wings 

 darker or lighter. I would conjecture that 

 the lighter nights of these Northern Isles, 

 has rendered it unnecessary for the male to 

 be so conspicuously coloured, and that the 

 Shetland males, bearing the normal markings 

 of the genus are nearer the original form of 

 the species when it first became distinct ; 

 while what we now consider the type of the 

 males, has gradually been assumed from the 

 importance of it being visible to the other 

 sex in the twilight. It would be interesting 

 to know what are the habits of the sexes in 

 the Shetland Isles, and whether any similar 

 modification obtains in other high Northern 

 latitudes. 



The male of himuli expands about two 

 inches. The wings are all silvery white 

 above, and smoky black below. The fringe 

 and thorax buff. The female expands to 

 two and a half inches, or even more. The 

 forewings are yellowish drab with numerous 

 red or brown irregular lines or spots ; hind 

 wings pale yellowish brown, or smoky 

 brown without markings. 



The larva is yellowish white, shining, but 

 not very smooth. The head is brown and 

 homy, and there is a light brown homy 

 plate on the second segment. It lives 

 entirely below the surface of the ground, 

 feeding on the roots of a great number of 

 different plants, hop, {Humulus lupulus) 

 from which it takes its name, burdock, 



plantain, dead nettle, &c., &c. I have seen 

 it move backwards in its burrow almost as 

 well as it could move forward. The pupa 

 is about an inch long, but comparatively 

 slender, pale yellowish brown, the thorax 

 and wing cases darker. It is very lively. 



The imago appears during June, and is on 

 the wing about a month, the eggs hatch 

 about three weeks after they have been 

 deposited, the larvse are full fed in April or 

 May in the second year of their existance, 

 and they remain about three weeks in pupa. 



The Ghost Moth inhabits waste places, 

 and is most abundant where the sur- 

 face is not disturbed— thus it abounds in 

 old church-yards, railway banks, &c., &c. 

 It is to be found throughout the British 

 Isles and is generally abundant. Abroad it 

 occurs throughout central and northern 

 Europe, but does not reach the Polar 

 regions. 



The female varies much in the number, 

 colour, and extant of the markings on the 

 wing. Mr. Howard Vaughan has a very pale 

 example in which the markings are altogether 

 wanting. In the Entomologists' Annual for 

 1865, attention was called to the extraordi- 

 nary series of specimens taken in the Shet- 

 lands during the previous season, to which 

 reference has already been made. More 

 recently, enterprising dealers have visited the 

 the same locality, and the range of variation 

 is now tolerably well known. Strange to say, 

 it exhibits a sort of transition of forms — the 

 male tending to the appearance of the female 

 and the female to that of the male, though 

 the latter case is rarer or doubtful. Dr. 

 Knaggs said of these varieties in 1865 — 

 "They have uniformly such an excessively 

 different appearance in the coloration and 

 adornment of the wings, and have, moreover, 

 such an inordinate tendency to variation — 

 the female, unlike our own humuU, occasion- 

 ally appearing in the white clothing of the 

 male, and the male in that of the female — 

 that their appearance is altogether very 



