common in many southern and eastern parts, but widely distributed over England, Wales, and Scotland to Moray. Only doubtfully recorded from Ireland.
Map-winged Swift (Hepialus fusconebulosa).
At one time this species (the velleda of Hübner) was known as the "Northern Swift," but as it is plentiful in North Devonshire and Somersetshire, and occurs less commonly in other southern English counties, that name is hardly suitable. Haworth's English name for it—"The Beautiful Swift"—does not quite meet the case, because, although the insect is prettily marked, it is scarcely beautiful. We have then to fall back on Donovan's Map-winged Swift as a popular name, and this seems a fairly apt one, as the markings on the fore wings are somewhat map-like in pattern, especially in the more typical specimens.
There is much variation in colour and in marking; some examples, chiefly those from Shetland, are prettily variegated. A uniform reddish-brown variety, ab. gallicus, Lederer, is depicted on Plate [158], Fig. 3; and a more or less typical specimen of each sex is shown on the same plate (Figs. 1 ♂, 2 ♀).
The caterpillar is ochreous white, with orange-brown plates, and rather paler raised dots; head, reddish brown, and spiracles black. It feeds on the roots of the bracken, and is full grown about May. The moth is out in June and July, and flies, in the gloaming, on hill slopes, heaths, and the edges of mosses and woods; it seems to be more active than either of the other British "Swifts"; at all events, I have always found it less easy to capture with the net.
The species is pretty generally distributed throughout the British Isles.
Common Swift (Hepialus lupulina).
Three examples of this species are shown on Plate [158]. Fig. 4 is a typical male, Fig. 5 a whitish suffused variety, and Fig. 6 is a female. The latter sex is generally devoid of marking, and in the male the stripes and dashes are far more conspicuous in some specimens than in others.
The glossy whitish caterpillar has a brown head; the plate on the first ring of the body is brownish, and the raised dots are pretty much of the same colour. It feeds on the roots of grass and other plants, and is full grown about April. A figure of the caterpillar, from a drawing in colour by Mr. A. Sich, and a photo of the pupa by Mr. H. Main, are shown on Plate [159], Figs. 1 and 1a; the latter is twice natural size.