THE BUTTERFLY HUNTERS. 1 55 



curious. I remember watching them, when I was quite 

 young, playing about in the early evening over the Honey- 

 suckle in front of my father's house. The long tongue 

 which they thrust down into the deep cups of the flowers 

 excited my wonder so much that I determined to catch 

 one and examine it. After working with my cap for some 

 time I succeeded in capturing a fine specimen. After se- 

 curing him under a glass he appeared to have no tongue 

 at all. Supposing I had caught the wrong one, I let him 

 go and trapped another, with, however, the same result. 

 I was sure that this fellow had a tongue, for I had seen 

 him use it. My first thought was that it was broken off, 

 and I looked for it in my cap. Finally I discovered it 

 carefully coiled up and quite concealed by the two feelers 

 at each side of the head. After killing the insect I un- 

 rolled the tongue. It was full five inches long. 



"There is another very common kind of Sphinx or 

 Hawk-moth which lives on Elm-trees, Its wings expand 

 about four inches, and are of a very delicate ashen gray 

 marked with white. Its name is Ceratomia Ouadricornis, 

 but I propose that we call it the Elm moth, for I don't 

 believe that one of you will ever remember the other 

 name. Sometimes these Elm moths are so numerous as 

 to do great mischief to those noble trees. " The wings of 

 all these Hawk-moths are quite peculiar in shape. The 

 fore pair are very long and narrow, suited for a strong 



