THE GAMMA MOTH. 
201 
tures expanding and closing their brilliant wings under 
the fruit trees on our walls, or basking upon the disk of 
some autumnal flower; and at another, perhaps, hardly 
a specimen is to be obtained : nor do they seem like 
the wasp to be scarce or abundant according to the de- 
ficiency or plenty of the season, but influenced by other 
causes. Many of our butterflies are produced by suc- 
cessive hatches, supplying the places of those which 
have been destroyed, and hence it is difficult to mark 
the duration .of an individual ; and others, as the nettle, 
peacock and wood tortoise, in many instances survive 
the winter, hidden in some recess or sheltered apart- 
ment, appearing in the spring time-worn and shabby. 
But van. atalanta appears only in the autumn, not as a 
preserved creature, but a recent production ; and hence 
we can ascertain the period of its life to be comprised 
only between those few days that intervene from the 
end of September to the end of October, by which 
time its food in our gardens has pretty well disappeared. 
Some sheltered wall, garnished with the bloom of the 
ivy, may prolong its being a little longer, but the cold 
and dampness of the season soon destroy it ; rendering 
the life of this creature, the most beautiful of our lepi- 
dopterous tribes, of very brief duration. 
The gamma moth (phakena gamma) is also another 
creature, that seems in no way affected by moist seasons, 
which retard the appearance, or apparently destroy so 
many others of its kind. This creature has imprinted 
on its dark wings a white character, something like the 
letter Y, but more like the small Greek gamma, and 
hence has received a pertinent name. Like Cain, it 
bears with it, in all its wanderings, a mark that dis- 
tinguishes it from others of its race. Its habits also are 
quite unlike those of other moths, as it feeds principally 
in the day-time ; and we see it late in the summer 
whisking about with all the activity and action of the 
hummingbird sphinx. Like the latter it keeps its wings, 
while feeding, in a constant state of vibration; haunts 
clover-fields, and the yellow blossoms of the wild mus- 
tard, and the heads of the pasture scabious. It seems 
little mindful of the common frosts of October, retiring 
