ON SOME LEPIDOPTEROUS LARV^ 77 



was decidedly conspicuous. I often used to amuse myself by 

 trying to count them, and it was very seldom that I\could 

 see more than eight or nine without an exhaustive search. 

 When full-fed, and the time for pupation drew nigh, the 

 bright green tint of the larva quickly changed to a deep 

 purple brown, and the creature soon descended from the plant 

 to conceal itself in the earth, crawling on which its newly 

 acquired tint gave it the most perfect protection. This 

 singular colour-change occurs in several of the hawk-moth 

 larvae, but in none that I am acquainted with is it quite so 

 extreme as in fuciformis. One of the other species which 

 changes colour in this way is the large and handsome larva 

 so well known to most of us, the caterpillar of the Privet 

 Hawk Moth {Sphinx llgustri). This larva, with its bright 

 apple green colour, with seven side stripes of purple and 

 white, and with its head held aloft in the characteristic 

 sphinx-like attitude of the group, is a most beautiful object 

 when seen on a privet or laurustinus bush in the sunlight, 

 yet it is singular to notice how well it is often concealed, 

 notwithstanding its great size and striking coloration. If 

 we withdraw a little from the bush where it rests, we see 

 that the purple stripes break up the mass of the green, and 

 give crossing shadows, thus making the larva appear like 

 the small green kaves of the privet. We may walk past it 

 many times and not suspect its presence, whilst all the 

 while it is resting near the end of a twig without any 

 attempt at concealment. 



The larvae of the great group of Hawk Moths nearly 

 all possess a caudal horn ; which in the larva of the Privet 

 Hawk Moth, when it emerges from the egg, is of great 

 size, nearly as long as the body, but after each skin-change 

 it grows relatively shorter. This holds good in a large 

 number of species. The Pine Hawk Moth {Sph. pinastri) 



