191 



HARDWICKE'S S C I E N C E-GO SSIP. 



his work ou insects, says that a caterpillar of 

 Machaon which he touched, directed the horn 

 towards the fingers as if to strike. Other observers 

 have not as yet confirmed this. When it thinks fit, 

 the caterpillar can entirely hide this apparatus from 

 view, its place being only denoted by two dots ; and, 

 singular to say, it occasionally protrudes one part of 

 this Y, keeping the other within. The odour is so 

 strong, one entomologist notes, who had caterpillars 

 in rearing, that it scented the garden for some 

 distance powerfully. And also it has been found to 

 bear a resemblance to that of the particular species 

 on which the caterpillar feeds. 



One other caterpillar from which springs a British 

 butterfly is also a " horned beast," and its adorn- 

 ment, though differing from that of the Swallow- 

 tail, is nearly as remarkable. The Purple Emperor 

 (Apatura Iris) is a species much sought after by 

 butterfly-hunters, and prized on account of its 

 beauty, and the difficulty usually attendiug its cap- 

 ture. The caterpillar few have found. Though it was 

 formerly reputed to be an oak-feeder, it is more 

 generally discovered now on the sallow. When first 

 hatched, the body of the little Emperor (to be) has 

 nothing particular in its appearance ; after the first 

 change of skin two horns are developed, which are 

 attached to the head ; they are then longer, in pro- 

 portion to its size, than at any later period in the 

 growth of the caterpillar. Feeding on until rather 

 latish in the autumn, it then, as Dr. Maclean has 

 observed, descends to an angle of the twig below 

 where it has been feeding, and spinning a slight pad 

 of silk, fixes itself there, with its horns extended 

 straight in front, and waits for the return of spring. 

 The full-grown caterpillar is about in the early part 

 of the summer, showing a particular dislike to be 

 touched or handled. " When feeding," says New- 

 man, "it bends its somewhat obese body with the 

 facility, and I would almost say elegance, of a 

 slug ; but I fear many will scarcely appreciate the 

 comparison." Very likely not. There exists this 

 notable difference between the horns of this cater- 

 pillar and those of the mollusks ; they cannot be 

 withdrawn, and they move only with the head to 

 which they are attached. The position of the mouth 

 when the caterpillar is engaged in eating makes 

 them at that time point backwards, at other times 

 they are directed in front. These horns are tinged 

 with blue at the fore part, whitish behind, the tips 

 approaching to black. The caterpillar of the Purple 

 Emperor has not been observed to make any use of 

 these appendages. 



Amongst our British butterflies there are no 

 other species with horned caterpillars ; though in 

 some of the fritillary tribe, as for instance in the 

 Silver-washed (Argynnis Paphia), at a hasty glance 

 the caterpillar seems to be horned. This aspect is 

 due to a pair of spines which point forwards over 

 the head. Let it be noted here, before passing to 



other horned kinds, that, unlike quadrupeds, what- 

 ever horns they have are rarely, if ever, horny, which 

 seems Hibernian, yet is true. 



The bulk of our horned British caterpillars are to 

 be found in that family of moths which Linnaeus 

 grouped together in his genus Sphinx, now sub- 

 divided and placed amongst the body of moths 

 called the Noctumi. 



Our largest native caterpillar is that of the 

 Death's-head Hawk-moth (Acherontia Atropos), the 

 name " hawk " being given to this and others as 

 significant of their rapid, and frequently very 

 straight flight. The Death's-head caterpillar is 

 about four inches long; though feeding occasionally 

 on other plants, it most frequently haunts the 

 potato, and its presence sometimes occasions in the 

 mind of the uneducated much vexation and con- 

 sternation, for it is regarded as injurious, and in the 

 Midland counties called a "lokus." Like a number 

 of other caterpillars in the family, this has seven 

 stripes along each side, which meet on the back. 

 The horn is above the tail of the caterpillar, and 

 does not possess the power of motion. It is pecu- 

 liar from having a double bend, and it is also rough. 

 Ivirby and Spence first remarked that the Death's- 

 head caterpillar had the power of uttering a distinct 

 noise ; and Newman has confirmed the statement, 

 the circumstance being an unusual one in caterpillar 

 life. The full-grown individuals retire to a con- 

 siderable depth in the ground to enter upon their 

 repose in the chrysalis state. 



On privet bushes in August and September, 

 sitting at early morning in what is called the 

 "sphinx attitude," the caterpillar of the Privet 

 Hawk-moth {Sphinx ligustri) attracts the notice 

 occasionally of non-entomologists. It is of con- 

 siderable size when adult, displaying then to perfec- 

 tion the seven stripes, which are broad, and half 

 purple, half white. The horn at the tail curls back, 

 and is black above and yellow beneath. Erom its 

 size this caterpillar proves a bonne louche to a 

 hungry bird, and, as a wjse precaution, it seems 

 generally to keep under cover of the twigs, with the 

 exception already noticed, so that the popular 

 proverb may hold good in this case that the early 

 bird catches the caterpillar. 



Much more rare is the caterpillar of the Convol- 

 vulus Hawk-moth (Sphinx convolvuli), which feeds 

 on the species of convolvulus or bindweed, con- 

 cealing itself during the day on the surface of the 

 ground, or going a little way beneath it. In this 

 species the stripes are black and white, and the horn 

 is yellowish. 



Different as are the perfect insects of the Poplar 

 Hawk-moth (Smerinthus populi) and the Eyed 

 Hawk-moth (S. ocellatus), the caterpillars are very 

 similar, and they both have a partiality for the leaves 

 of the willow and poplar. The Poplar Hawk 

 caterpillar is iudeed said to feed occasionally upon 



