Occasional Visitors from Stuinicr Climes.

But, now and again, these colder latitudes receive visits from the species of the sunnier climes. To Europe in this way comes the celebrated Oleander Hawk Moth from Africa; and our Choerocampa celerio, the Vine Hawk, is probably only a casual visitor with us. The summer winds bring like occasional welcome guests to the eastern portion of the States of America, from the West Indies, and Florida; among them the Blue and Green Argeiis labrusccc, Dilop/io;wta ello,comvaon.\y csiWcd the Wandering Hawk, and the Bee Hawks, Aellopos titan and tantahts, the last from the Antilles. Triptogon higiibris, Dupo vitis and linjici, and PJdegethontius rnstica may be also mentioned as tropical species appearing irregularly, or as wind visitors in the north.

As wanderers over the face of the globe none can compete with the ChoerocampinLt; and as swift flyers they have no rivals, with their pointed bodies and beautiful clear-cut wings. Choerocampa celerio has the greatest geographical range. Always rare with us, it is met with the vine everywhere throughout the warmer parts of the Old World, and not unfrequently is caught on board ship, out of sight of land. No species more admirably exemplifies the family renown for rapid and indefatigable

flight.

CHAPTER XII.

THE DEATH S HEAD MOTH.

Fig. 43.—The Death's Head Mu

It is in Several Respects ^hi ' a Most Remarkable \ ^7 Species.

The remarkable and beautiful Sphinge, the Death's Head Moth, attains an expansion of wing sometimes not far short of six inches, being therefore not only the largest of our indigenous Lepidoptera, but, with one

exception, the largest insect in Europe. Extremely broad and thick of body, with a large head, and a short thick proboscis or tongue, it bears on the back of the thorax a conspicuous, well-defined, yellowish blotch, containing two round black spots and some dark grey clouds, not inaptly representing the face of a human skull, or Death's Head. The fore wings are thick and strong, and of a blackish grey, mottled with yellow and red; the hind ones of a rich brown yellow barred with black, and with these wings striking aberrations, when they do take place, seem to be usually connected.

Similar qualities distinguish the larva. It also is large and handsome, solid and thick, and about five inches long, and, when at rest, in the habit of raising its anterior segments and drawing them back, in assuming the curious sphinx like posture, so characteristic of the group. Its colour is green or yellow, sprinkled with numerous small black or purplish dots, and with seven broad oblique lateral stripes of a dull blue or violet, extending to the back, where they meet in an angle; and the twelfth seo^ment carries the horn, which is rough, and strangely bent downwards, and then recurved again at the tip. But this is a most variable larva, for specimens are occasionally found of different shades of brown, with the stripes much less distinct, or even white, and sometimes the first three or four segments have broad whitish stripes and patches, and instead of the

usual lateral stripes, a chain of brown diamond-shaped cross-bars. In July and August it occurs in potato fields, busily engaged in devouring the leaves; but as it feeds during the night, and remains hidden low down on the stem throughout the day, it is not so easily discovered as its size would lead one to imagine. Formerly scarce in this country, since the cultivation of the potato it has increased considerably, though not to an extent sufficient to do any real harm. But in the event of the potato being destroyed by disease, it will attack other plants, and has been known to take to them so kindly as to refuse the potato when supplied with it. It also lives naturally on the tee-tree, the common jasmine, the deadly nightshade, woody nightshade, snowberry, dogwood, and various others of very dissimilar qualities. About the middle of August, as a rule, it becomes full-fed, when it retires into the ground to a considerable depth, and forms an oval cell, carefully smoothed inside, wherein to undercjo its destined changes. Owino- to delicacy of skin, the pupa is frequently injured when the potatoes are dug up in the autumn, and without precautions, disturbed pupae almost invariably succumb before reaching the adult state.

The MotJi has a Voice.

Its superior dimensions and bulk of body, and the singular markings on the thorax, which bear such a wonderful resemblance to a human skull, conspire to render this moth a most remarkable species, but it is still more striking and unique from the fact of possessing a voice, or the power of uttering a kind of shrill, plaintive, and mournful squeak, somewhat resembling that of a peculiarity appertaining to only one other mouse—a species of the family, not belonging to this genus (Manduca). While both sexes can produce the noise, and some individuals do so with the greatest readiness whenever touched or disturbed, nothing will induce others to make it, ever so faintly. The strange cry has been long known to naturalists, and the question of its origin has given rise to much discussion. Almost innumerable theories have been invented to account for this apparently simple phenomenon, and quite a literature of its own has accumulated round the subject. From Reaumur downwards, observer after observer has experimented with the view of ascertainingf the exact seat of the sound. Some have attributed it to the same cause as in certain beetles, the friction of one organ against another, as the rubbing of the proboscis against the palpi, or the thorax against the first segment of the abdomen; and it is

ascribed to the forcible expiration of air through the tongue or trunk; and it is said that bubbles have been seen to form upon the tongue when the moth had been induced to squeak under water. A large dome- shaped cavity has been shown to exist in the head, which, by the alternate action of elevating and depressing muscles, is caused to act as a bellows, and probably inhales, as well as exhales, air through a narrow slit-like aperture, leading to the proboscis. That the air expelled enters the cavity from behind, as has been supposed, is hardly likely, for the posterior opening is small, if not often altogether aborted, while the animal can still squeak if its abdomen be removed. At the narrow slit-like opening the note is formed, the sound being modified by passage through the proboscis tube. But it has been satisfactorily proved that the pupa has the power of squeaking like the moth shortly before emergence, and, it must be confessed, it is difficult to understand how the methods of production suggested can operate in this case. Strange to say, the larva has also a voice, of a totally different nature however, being a peculiar grating or crackling noise, that may be compared to the snap that accompanies an electric spark, and sometimes the noise is repeated in rapid succession, resembling that occasioned by the winding up of a watch. Cottagers finding the caterpillar have described it, not inaptly, as biting its teeth at them. There is no doubt

the sound is of a defensive character, and is made when the animal is irritated or disturbed. It appears to result from a lateral action of the large mandibles or jaws, which are furnished on their outer surface with some minute prominences; and when one jaw is outside, and passing over the other, it is momentarily arrested by the prominence of the latter, and falls sharply against its outer surface towards its base, the sudden jerk and collision between the two hard chitinous substances probably causing the sound.

An Object of Alarm to the Superstitious.

It is not surprising that a creature invested with so many startling attributes should be the object of superstitious beliefs and alarm among ignorant country folk. That it is nocturnal in habit, concealing itself in some obscure spot during the day, and appearing on the wing only in the morning and evening twilight, serves but to intensify the unfounded fear. In Eastern Europe, where so as tosome years it is extremely abundant—so much

it isenter houses, and at times extinguish the lights-regarded with horror as an evil omen, a forerunner of war, pestilence, famine, and death to man and beast. They call it the Death's Head Phantom and Wandering Death's Bird in German Poland, convincing

evidence of the liofHt in which it is held. To these fertile imaginations, the grim features stamped thereon represent the head of a perfect skeleton, its cry becomes the moan of anguish, or grief, or of a child; the very brilliancy of its eyes typifies the fiery element whence it came, for they implicitly believe it to be a messenger of evil spirits. Once, on its plentiful occurrence in Brittany, a country prone to superstition, it created the greatest trepidation among the inhabitants, its appearance co-inciding with a disastrous epidemic, which they charged it with bringing, or, at least, that it came to announce the fatal malady. An idea prevails, among the Creoles especially, that it is very dangerous, in that the dust cast from its wings in flying through a room will blind those in whose eyes it falls, and thus it is driven forth by every means. Even some parts of England have the saying that the moth is in collusion with witches, and whispers in their ear the name of the person for whom the tomb is about to open.

Asa" Bee-robberr

Perhaps owing to its habit of flying late at night, it is not quite clear whether or no it gathers food from flowers. It is seen hovering at flowers, it is said, though rarely, but has never been caught while so

employed, and the shortness of its tongue compels us to feel rather doubtful of its capability in this direction; some suppose it to suck not from flowers, but the exuding sap of trees. However, in common with the predilection of most Lepidoptera, it is strongly attracted by honey, and apparently appreciates it in larger quantities than flowers supply, being well known to enter bee-hives when it gets a chance. It has been found trying to gain access to the hives, disposing of all doubts as to the habit, and once inside, its task must be to effect the enjoyment of its meal in peace. This inoffensive creature, its thick skin and downy covering notwithstanding, seems absolutely incapable of resisting its armed assailants. Its huge size may scare the bees, and its stridulous voice has been thought to arrest and control the hostility of this irritable race, in a manner similar to that produced by the song of their queen. If this conjecture be correct, we may ascribe the rare instances in which the moth has been securely fastened down inside the hive to natural death of the moth therein, the bees, being unable to eject so bulky an object, having taken the precaution to embalm its body with the glutinous substance called propolis; indeed, this circumstance could not well occur to a living moth, ineflectual though it be, unless it were completely stupefied by gorging on the honey. In the south of Europe, in some years, it becomes very injurious in this

way to bee-hives. The construction of modern bee-hives keeps it out, and when the old-style hives are used, an efficacious remedy lies to hand, by covering the opening into the hive with wire grating, fine enough to prevent the entrance of insects larger than its rio^htful inmates. According to some Continental apiarians, the bees are aware of their liability to the intrusions of the moth, and when located in the old-fashioned hive, erect a kind of fortification at the portal, including a narrow and turned passage, through which it would be impossible for the moth to squeeze, while it is equally powerless to force its way through by biting.

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