204 



■IHE INSECT WORLD. 



I 



. . 1 „K^i Joined to the plaintive cry which this moth 

 Th,s f^^'fl -Xtd has sometLes'^inspired terror into the whole 



'"" VI rno°a country The appearance of this moth m certa>. 

 population of a count y PI .^^^^^.^^ ^^ ^^ ^^.^^^^^ ^^^^^^ 



^ZeVhourAey saw fn this doleful sylph of the mght the messenge, 

 of delui The i/.«v»//a atropos plays a great part m the super 

 ^dtions vhidi are believed in by the country folk m England. On. 



Fig. 192. 



-The Convolvulus Sphinx {Sphinx convolvidi). 



hears it said in country places that this ominous inhabitant of the 

 is in league with the witches, and that it goes and murmurs into tr 

 ears with its sad and plaintive voice the name of the person wn 

 death is soon to carry off. In spite of its ommous livery, the AtfO^ 

 does not come from Hades ; it is no envoy of death, brmgmg saari 

 and mourning. It does not bring us news of another world ; it 

 us, on the contrary, that Nature can people every hour ; that it 

 her will to console them for their sadness, to grant to the twilignt . 



