The Insect World: Being a Popular Account of the Orders of Insects

Next to Zygcena comes Frocris, the species of which fly during the day in damp fields. We will mention particularly the Frocris statices (Fig. 177), which is plentiful enough where it occurs between the middle of June and the middle of July, on the sides of hills. Its fore wings, antennae, and the whole of its body, are of a blue green above. The same wings are of the same colour below, and the surfaces of the lower ones are of an ashy brown.

The Sphinges, that is, those species that form the family of the Sphiiigidce^ have received this general name from the atdtude which their caterpillars often assume. Raising the fore part of the body, which attitude resembles the Sphinx of mythology, they keep for a very long time this state of immobility. They fly very rapidly and briskly, and

Fig. 177.— The Forester {Proeris [/no] statices).

only make their appearance for the most part after sunset. The caterpillars, which in this group are without hair, and have almost always a horn on the eleventh segment of the body, metamorphose themselves in the earth, without forming hard cocoons. The chrysalis is sometimes enveloped in a very slight shell, or cocoon, which when it exists is formed of particles of earth or of vegetable debris bound together by threads. This family comprises species generally remarkable for their size and beauty.

The genus Macroglossa contains some species which fly rapidly and for a long time together during the day. We will mention particularly the Humming-bird Sphinx [Macroglossa sfel/afarum). This moth (Fig. 178) has attracted the attention of all who have ever spent much time in a flower garden. In Burgundy the children call it bird-fiy. In passing from one flower to another it hasbrisk and rapid movements, but it remains suspended in the air before each; it does not alight upon any, it is always flying, thrusting its long

195

LEPIDOPTERA,

trunk the while into the corollas of flowers, counterbalancing the action of its weight by the continuous vibration of its wings.

We will describe in a few words this robust inhabitant of the air, this charming bird-fly. The Macroglossa stellatarum shows itself during the whole of the fine season, and till the middle of autumn, in our climate. It often penetrates in the middle of the day into our

Fig. 178. — Humming-bird Hawk-Moth {Macroglossa stellatarunt).

houses, and knocking itself against the window-panes, falls an easy prey to children. Its front wings are of an ashy brown, of changing hues above, with three black, transverse, undulating lines. The lower, shorter than the others, are of a rusty-yellow colour. All the wings are yellowish below near the body, ferruginous in the middle, and of a dark brown at their extremities.

The body is long, brown, hairy^ and terminating in a tuft of

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divergenc hairs, reminding one of a bird's tail. It is for this reason that it has been called by the French Sphinx Moineau^ or Sparrow Sphinx. This resemblance is so great, that Mr. Bates, in his book on the Amazons, says he often shot species of this genus in mistake for humming-birds. The caterpillar of this remarkable Lepidopteron (Fig. 179) is of a pale green, with eight transverse rows of small white dots and four longitudinal rows, of which two are white and two yellowish. It has a dark blue horn, with an orange-coloured tip.

Fig. i79.--CaterpilIar of It lives on different species of led-straw,

Humming-bird Hawk-Moth but by preference on the Galium inollugo. (Macroglossa stellatarurn). Before its metamorphosis, it encloses itself in a shapeless cocoon, made of the debris of leaves held together by threads, and placed on the surface of the ground. The pupa (Fig. 180) is of a light grey, sprinkled over with brown dots, and striped with black. Its skin is so thin and transparent that one can follow it through all the phases of transformation to the imago.

Fig. 180. — Pupa of Macroglossa stellatarum.

The genus Deilephila is composed of species whose flight is rapid, and after sunset. Such are the Deilephila euphorbice, the Oleander Hawk-Moth [Deilephila \Cheer oca??ipa nerii)^ and the large Elephant?lpenor). Hawk-Modi {Deilephila [Chcerocanipa

The Deilephila euphorbice (Fig. 181) has the upper wings of a. reddish grey, with three spots of greenish or olive colour along the^ costa, or front margin, and a broad black oblique band along the hind margin. The lower wings are red, with the base black, and a transverse black band towards the edge j they have, moreover, a

LBPIDOPTERA.

large round white spot on the inside; beneath the wings are red, as also is the body, which is covered above with greenish hairs. This

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Deilephila euphorbise.

species is exceedingly rare in Great Britain, but is plentiful on the Continent during the months of June and September.

The larva (Fig. 182) is one of the most remarkable of the genus on account of the splendour and the vividness of its colours, and

Fig. 182. — Larva of Deilephila euphorbise.L dots very close to each other on a glossy black ground, which are ranged in circles. On each side of the body are two longitudinal rows of spots generally of the same colour as the dots, and a narrow band of carmine runs down the middle of the back, and a similar

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band, which is intersected by yellow, is to be seen above the legs. This caterpillar is almost always found on the Cyprus-leafed spurge. It is found first at the end of June. Generally the chrysalis passes through the winter, and the moth emerges in the following year.

The Deilephila {Cheer oca jnpa) nerii (Fig. 183), or Oleander Hawk-Moth, is a charming species almost peculiar to hot countries,

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Fig. 183. — Deilephila (Chaerocampa) nerii.

where the shrub from which it derives its name grows spontaneously — that is to say, in Africa, in the southern parts of Asia, in Greece, in Spain, &c. Carried forward by its rapid flight, and assisted by atmospheric currents, these beautiful insects sometimes come accidentally into the countries of Central Europe. They have been met with many times in Paris, in the garden of the Luxembourg, where the oleander is cultivated under glass, But those which are hatched

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in the environs of Paris never reproduce their species, on account of the coldness of the climate. Both larva and imago — the former on periwinkle — have been found in the same locality.

Fig. 184. — Larva of Dellephila (Chaerocampa) nerii.

The caterpillar of this species (Fig. 184) is one of those called by the French Cochonnes^ because their first two rings, which are retractile and drawn back under the third when the insect is at rest, taper in such a way as to resemble the snout of a pig, hence the

Fig. 185. — Pupa of Deilephila (Chserocampal nerii.

English name " Elephant," when they change their place or are engaged in eating. It is of a beautiful green, with white stripes and dots on the sides, and marked on the third segment with two large spots hke eyes, of an azure blue, encircled with black, and having white pupils. A short orange-coloured horn rises at the extremity of ihe body. A few days before its transformation, this caterpillar

entirely loses its rich livery, it becomes brown on the back, and of a dirty yellow on the rest of its body, and constructs for itself a cocoon at the foot of the shrub on which it lived, with the debris of leaves fastened together with threads.

The cocoon contains a chrysalis (Fig. 185) of a hazel brown, delicately streaked with a darker brown, and with a very conspicuous black spot on each of its stigmata.

The Elephant Hawk- Moth {Deikphihi \Chffrocampa\ elpejwr^

Fig. 186) is not rare during the month of June. Its fore wings are

Fig. t86.— Deilephila (Chaerocampa) clpenor.

purple red, glossy above, with three bands of a light olive green, having at the base a small black spot. The inner margin is garnished with white hairs. The hind wings are of a dark rose colour above, with the base black, and the hind margm bordered with white. The four wings are rose-coloured below, with the costa and the middle of an olive green; the upper ones have their interior border tinged with a blackish colour. The body is rose colour, with two longitudinal bands of an olive green over the abdomen, and five diverging lines of this colour on the thorax. The sides of the abdomen have along Ihem a double series of yellowish points.

The caterpillar of this sphinx (Fig. 187) is of a dark brown,

20 i L^PtbOPTERA.

delicately striped with black. Two grey lines run down each side of its body, and on the fourth and fifth segments are two black eyes bordered by light violet. This caterpillar is found most often on

Fig. 187.— Larva of Deilephila (Chserocampa) elper.or,

certain kinds of Epiiobiuin, but will also eat of the vine, fuchsia, and bed-straw. It must be sought in damp places, by streams and ponds, from the end of July till September. It constructs on the surface of the soil a shapeless cocoon with moss and dry leaves, which it fastens together with some silky threads. Its pupa (Fig. 188), of a yellowish

Fig. 188. — Pupa of Deilephila (Charocampa) elpenor.

r-own, has short bristles on the rings of the abdomen. The caterpillar possesses in the highest degree the retractile power which has gained for certain species of this genus their popular names. The Privet Sphinx ( Sphinx ligustri, Fig. 189) has its upper wings rather narrow, about two inches long, of a reddish grey, and veined with black above, with the middle of a dark brown, the inner margin with rose-coloured hairs, and the hind margin having two whitish flexuous 64*