The Currant Clearwing is so called because its caterpillar feeds on the pith in the young shoots of currant bushes. It is very common in almost every kitchen-garden, and sometimes does a good deal of mischief to the currants.
PLATE XXIV
THE HORNET CLEARWING (4)
This is the largest of all the British “clearwings,” and it really does look so very much like a hornet that most people would be quite afraid to meddle with it for fear of being stung. But if ever you should happen to meet with the moth you can tell it from a real hornet quite easily; for if you look closely at it you will see that its body is not smooth and shiny, but is covered all over with close, soft down. The best place to look for it is on the trunks of poplar trees, quite close to the ground, in June and July; for after it comes out of the chrysalis it always sits on the tree-trunk for some little time in order to dry its wings. And you will nearly always find that it is sitting quite close to the burrow which it made when it was a caterpillar, and in which it lived for no less than two whole years.
There is another kind of “hornet clearwing,” whose caterpillar feeds in the stems of osiers instead of in the trunks of poplar trees. But it is not at all a common insect, and you are not very likely ever to find it.
1. Common Swift
2. Ghost Swift, male
3. Ghost Swift, female