305 



fields. The moth has a remarkable appearance, its 

 principal colours being blackish-brown and orange; 

 the anterior wings are clouded with these colours, and 

 the abdomen is banded with them, but the hinder 

 wings are greyish with a double blackish band near 

 their hinder margin. The most singular point in the 

 coloration of this fine insect, however, is to be found 

 in the marking of its thorax, which bears upon its 

 back a large orange patch, spotted with black in such 

 a way as to give it a remarkably close resemblance to 

 a human skull. This traditional emblem of mor- 

 tality, coupled with the funereal effect of the rich 

 dark colour of the insect, has given it an ominous 

 character in the eyes of the superstitious, and when 

 its unusual plenty has brought it much into notice, 

 the alarm produced in the minds of the peasantry has 

 been of a serious nature. It must be confessed, how- 

 ever, that, besides its dress, the Death^s-head Moth has 

 another property, which, considering the mute nature 

 of all the other Lepidoptera, would certainly not tend 

 to diminish any superstitious feelings with which we 

 might be disposed to regard it : when touched or seized, 

 it emits a curious plaintive squeak, which renders it 

 rather a mysterious object even to the Entomologist, 

 as no one has yet been able to discover in what manner 

 this noise is produced. The most probable explana- 

 tion hitherto given is that of M. Passerini, who says 

 that in the interior of the head, close to the base of 

 the trunk, there is a small cavity furnished with strong 

 muscles, and that the cry is produced by the sudden 

 contraction of the latter, and the consequent expul- 

 sion of the air contained in the cavity. The question 

 is one worthy the attention of Entomologists, as, if 

 M. Passerini^s observations be correct, this would be 



