. Natural history. Zoology. MOTHS. 591. ¥xQ. 77.—Ghost Moth (female) {ITepiahts humuli). Nat. size. Our swift moths (Kepialidas) have rather long wings and very short antennae. They exhibit many remarkable peculiarities ; the wings are separ- ated at the base, the connecting link between them being not by a bristle, as in many moths, but by a long lobe. The fore and hind-wings have similar neuration, and the hind-legs of the males are more or less aborted in some of the species. The ghost moth, Hepialus hu- muli (Linn.), is common in every meadow, where the male, which is white on the upper -
. Natural history. Zoology. MOTHS. 591. ¥xQ. 77.—Ghost Moth (female) {ITepiahts humuli). Nat. size. Our swift moths (Kepialidas) have rather long wings and very short antennae. They exhibit many remarkable peculiarities ; the wings are separ- ated at the base, the connecting link between them being not by a bristle, as in many moths, but by a long lobe. The fore and hind-wings have similar neuration, and the hind-legs of the males are more or less aborted in some of the species. The ghost moth, Hepialus hu- muli (Linn.), is common in every meadow, where the male, which is white on the upper - side of the wings, and brown below, flies at dusk with a peculiar hover- ing motion. The female has yellow fore - wings blotched with red, and the hind - wings and under- surface are brown. The European swifts feed on the roots of plants, but there are some splendid green Australian species, measuring four or five inches across the wings, the larvfe of which feed on the wood of trees. Owing to the unusual neuration and mode of connection of the wings in the Hepialidce, Professor Comstock has recently proposed to associate this family with the Micropterygidw, a, family which used to be placed among the Tinea, and to treat them as form- ing a primary division (in fact, a sub-order) of the order Lepidoptera. In this innovation he has since been followed by other authors. The NoctucE are a large group of stout-bodied moths. To it belong many of the moths which we see ilying over flowers, or about a candle in the even- ing. Most of our species measure from one to two inches in expanse, and many are of dull colours. Some have metallic spots, or letter-like markings, like the burnished brass moth, Plusia chrysitis (Linn.), which has large bronzy- green markings on its brown fore-wings ; or the violet-grey gamma moth, Phisia gamma (Linn.), a very common day-flying species, with a white mark resembling the Greek letter y on each of its fore-wings. Others are brown, with black streaks
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