150 
THE MOTH. 
many others bluster about in a very amusing and 
obstreporous manner. 
The trunk of the moth is much more simple 
than that of the butterfly, and consists but of 
one tube. 
But what is very singular, some moths have 
neither mouth nor trunk of any kind, and can 
never take any food. 
The ghost-moth* is one of these. You will 
wonder how any moth came to have such an 
uncomfortable name. One reason is, that the 
wings are of a satiny-white, and their edges are 
tipped with yellow. The female moth very seldom 
flies, and when her partner has discovered her 
retreat, he keeps hovering over it, moving up and 
down, and from side to side, but never quitting 
the spot. From his being so constantly in one 
place, he is said to haunt it; and this, joined to 
the phantom-like appearance of his snowy wings, 
has given him the name of 66 ghost-moth.” 
You remember how careful the moths were of 
then eggs, and how they fastened them with 
gum to the branches, and even covered them over 
with down. But the female of the ghost-moth, 
takes no care of her eggs at all, and throws 
them to a distance, without either gum or 
covering. At first, they are white, but they 
* Ilypialus hrnnuli. 
