AN UNFAMILIAR INSECT.
[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR." 3 Sza,—The insect described in the Spectator of last week is evidently the not uncommon humming-bird hawk-moth. The amber wings are the lower wings; the upper ones are of such fine, filmy gauze, and move so rapidly, as to be almost invisible until the moth settles. Then it folds up and is extremely difficult to see at all, even if you have marked it down. It feeds with its long tongue by rapidly unrolling it to the length sometimes of its body and spearing it into various flowers. I often see the moths here, and they are quite common at Camerton, near Bath. They are difficult to catch as they twist with great rapidity and are very wary. They have a little feathery tuft for a tail and very long antennae. It is possible that your correspondent is familiar with the humming bird moth, and knows that the insect lie described differs in some respects from it. If eo, I should conjecture that thero may be some Continental variation of it, which has come over with the main flight of red admirals, which are this year not nearly so abundant in West Surrey as usual.—I am, Sir, &c.,
G.
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