THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



207 



LupuLiNUs, The Common Swift. — This 

 very common species has a similar flight to 

 that of Velleda and may be seen buzzing 

 about just before dusk on any evening after 

 the middle of May. Its flight is not of long 

 duration, the males seldom flying above 

 half an hour ; the females may be met with 

 later. It is not difficult to capture on the 

 wing and is ubiquitous enough to be met 

 with by everyone. Yet the larva appears to 

 have been seldom seen, and I have found no 

 more recent description of it than Stainton's 

 translation of Hubner. I dug it up in some 

 numbers three or four years ago in a field 

 that had not been ploughed for three years 

 and was then overgrown with Dead nettle. 

 Bog mint, Dock, Sow thistle, &c„ along with 

 humuUy which it closly resembled. It was 

 yellowish white with the internal viscera 

 showing through the skin as a darker 

 dorsal line ; deeply divided at the seg- 

 ments ; the head and plates reddish 

 i brown and horny; spiracles edged with 

 black. They were very impatient of ex- 

 posure to light, and writhed and twisted 

 when touched as if in pain. I was only 

 able to rear a very small proportion to 

 maturity. They appeared to feed on almost 

 any root, but were always most abundant 

 where there was a patch of dead nettle. 

 The male of Li^uUnus is dark greyish 

 brown, the portion of the wing below the 

 pale marks rather lighter in colour and 

 not so densely scaled. It expands rather 

 more than an inch. The female is larger, 

 expanding about an inch and a half, paler 

 in colour, and the light marks not so dis- 

 tinct, but the portion of the wings below 

 them less densely scaled as in the male. In 

 Scotland this insect is rather local, but in 

 1 the rest of the British Isles it is generally 

 very common. It frequents places where 

 i the surface soil is not disturbed — waste 

 Hand, railway banks, hedge sides, &c., &c. 

 Though the commonest of our British 

 : Swifts, it has the narrowest range abroad, 



only occurring in Central Europe, reaching 

 Sweden in the north and the Alps south- 

 ward. 



Hectus, The Golden Swift.— The males 

 of this species have been long noticed for 

 their oscillating mode of flight, like that of 

 the same sex of hv/niuli. HectuSy however, 

 cannot be supposed to fly in this way for 

 the purpose of attracting the female by 

 sight, and although I was satisfied in my own 

 own mind that female htmuli were attracted 

 to the male by sight, I could not account 

 for the similar mode of flight in male 

 hectuSf where there scarcely could be 

 attraction by sight, but a very inter- 

 esting observation was made last year 

 by Mr. C. G. Barrett, which appears to 

 explain the difficulty. Mr. Barrett want- 

 ing a series for the local Museum, 

 took on the occasion refered to, all 

 he could capture. They had evidently 

 just emerged, and he took them during the 

 first few minutes of their flight. To this he 

 attributed the discovery that "this species 

 when in fine condition, diffuses a very 

 decided perfume, almost exactly the same 

 as the perfume given off" by the larva of 

 Papilio Machaon, when the curious forked 

 tubercle is extended, and more like that of 

 ripe pine apple than anything else that I 

 know of. I noticed it faintly when turning 

 the moths out of the pill-boxes, but when a 

 number were pinned into a box it became 

 very noticeable indeed. It was confined to 

 the male moths, and seemed especially to 

 come from the curious bladdery termination 

 of the aborted hind legs, but of this I am not 

 positive. I suspect it has some connection 

 with the curiously inverted habits of the 

 sexes in Hepialus, and sipems to attract the 

 females" —ChsiS. G. Bairrett, in E. M. M., 

 vol. xix, p. 90. I have little doubt the 

 suggestion gives us the true explanation of 

 the habit. Hectus, when flying in this way 

 is even more regularly pendulum-like than 



