Richard South

“ The blackish body has two pale-yellow belts, but in the male the lower one is often double. As a rule, the body of the female is stouter than that of the male, but the bodies of some males appear quite as thick as those of the females, and the true sex is only disclosed by the ciliated antennæ, which is a character of the male alone.
The caterpillar feeds on the roots of dock and sorrel, and it is full grown about May. In June and July the moth is on the wing and flies in the sunshine, about noon, over the food plants.
The species occurs not uncommonly in the Warren at Folkestone, Kent. ”

“ In June or July, the moths are not infrequently seen on leaves of shrubs in gardens where there are currant bushes in or around such gardens, but the foliage of the food plant is a favourite resting place. ”

“ Fourteen species are found in the British Isles, but to obtain fine specimens of most of them the mature caterpillars or the chrysalids will have to be collected and the moths reared. All species emerge from the chrysalis early in the forenoon, and then only under the influence of sunshine.
The caterpillars are somewhat maggot-like, and live in stems, branches, and roots of trees and shrubs; or in the crowns and roots of low-growing plants. The majority, possibly all, are nearly two years in arriving at full growth.
Hornet Moth (Trochilium apiformis) . ”