Volume 14, Plate XIII / Entomology (Insects)

Bee Clear-Wing, Breeze Clear-Underwing, Black and White Horned Clear-Wing & Ruby-Fly Clear-Wing.

Trochilium Apiforme, Ægeria Asiliformis, Æ. Spheciformis & Æ. Chrysidiformis

1. Bee Clear-Wing. Resembling a bee, the head yellow, the brown thorax bearing four yellow spots and the yellow abdomen marked with black and brown segments, all the wings transparent with rust-brown edges, nervures, and a transverse forewing stripe. The whitish pubescent caterpillar, with a dusky dorsal line and dark-brown head, lives in the stems and roots of willow and poplar, the insect frequenting these trees and not scarce in Epping Forest and Coombe Wood in June and July.
2. Breeze Clear-Underwing. Distinguished by opaque scale-clothed forewings, the body blue-black and shining, the head with two white spots and a yellow belt, the abdomen with three yellow belts, the anal tuft deep black with two yellow lines and the legs yellow with blue thighs. The male differs in having pectinate antennae and four abdominal belts, this scarce northern insect taken occasionally near London and in southern England and frequenting poplars.
3. Black and White Horned Clear-Wing. Expanding about thirteen or fourteen lines, glossy-black with a yellow line on each side of the thorax and yellow belts on the third and fifth abdominal rings, the transparent wings with blue-black nervures, margins, apex, and transverse stripes and the antennae yellowish-white at the apex. Still rarer than its allies in Britain and abroad, the few cabinet examples come chiefly from near London and the Isle of Wight, the insect frequenting birch-trees.
4. Ruby-Fly Clear-Wing. Considerably smaller, the wings seldom exceeding ten lines, the body bluish-black with yellowish-white forehead and collar, a white thoracic point, and two white abdominal belts, the wing edges, apex, and nervures black with a clear hyaline triangular area and a bright yellowish-red surface. Abundant in northern France and Germany, only a single instance is recorded of its capture in Britain.