34 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



THE HUMMINGBIRD, OR SPHINX, MOTHS 

 Teacher's Story 



F during the early evening, when all the swift hum- 

 ming birds are abed, we hear the whirr of rapidly 

 moving wings and detect the blur of them in the 

 twilight, as if the creature carried by them hung 

 entranced before some deep-throated flower, and 

 then whizzed away like a bullet, we know that it 

 was a hummingbird, or sphinx, moth. And when 

 we see a caterpillar with a horn on the wrong end of 

 the body, a caterpillar which, when disturbed, rears 

 threateningly, then we may know it is the sphinx 

 larva. And when we find a strange, brown seg- 

 mented shell, with a long jug handle at one side, buried in the earth as 

 we spade up the garden in the spring, then we know we have the sphinx 

 pupa. 



The sphinx was a vaudeville person of ancient mythology who went 

 about boring people by asking them riddles; and, if they could not give 

 the right answers, very promptly ate them up. Although Linnaeus gave 

 the name of sphinx to these moths, because he fancied he saw a resem- 

 blance in the resting or threatening attitude of the larvae to the Egyptian 

 Sphinx, there are still other resemblances. These insects present three 

 riddles: The first one is, "Am I a humming-bird?" the second, "Why do 

 I wear a horn or an eye-spot on the rear end of my body where horns 

 and eyes are surely useless?" and the third, "Why do I look like a jug 

 with a handle and no spout?" 



The sphinx moths are beautiful and elegant creatures. They have 

 a distinctly tailor-made appearance, their colors are so genteel and 

 "the cut" so perfect. They have long, rather narrow, strong wings 

 which enable them to fly with extra- 

 ordinary rapidity. The hind wings 

 are shorter, but act as one with the 

 front wings. The body is stout and 

 spindle-shaped. The antennas are 

 thickened in the middle or toward 

 the tip, and in many species have 

 the tip recurved into a hook. 

 Their colors show most harmonious 

 combinations and most exquisite 

 contrasts; the pattern, although 

 often complex, shows perfect re- 

 finement. Olive, tan, brown and 

 ochre, black and yellow, and the 

 whole gamut of greys, with eye- 

 spots or bands athwart 

 the hind wings of rose 

 color or crimson, are 

 some of the sphinx color 

 schemes. 



Most of the sphinx 

 moths have remark- 



Sphinx larva in sphinx attitude. 

 From Manual for the Study of Insects. 



