THE SPHINGID^. 99 



These fine caterpillars have a smooth and glossy skin, with 

 bright colours, and pretty ornamentation. Generally speaking, 

 they are rather narrowed in front, and have a curved appendix 

 on the top of the last segment of the body like a horn or tail. 

 When about to become transformed into the pupa condition, the 

 caterpillars hide themselves in the ground, forming a comfortable 

 hole, which they line with all the silk they can muster. It is 

 very wonderful, in this instance, as in all others, how the insects 

 that live in the earth through very inclement seasons manage 

 to make a safe retreat with so very little silk as a covering. 

 The chrysalis has to live in the hole in the ground throughout 

 the winter, and any water draining in would assuredly kill it. 



CHRYSALIS OF THE DEATH's HEAD SPHINX MOTH. 



The silk is all expended in lining the cavity, and fortunately, 

 although it is scanty, it is so varnished that it is water-tight; 

 hence the safety of the pupa is hardly a matter of doubt. 

 Some species of SphingidcB undergo their metamorphoses on 

 top of the soil, and agglutinate little stones, leaves, and rubbish 

 into a cocoon. The pupae of these great caterpillars are not 

 very remarkable ; they are dark brown or reddish, and have a 

 small point at their end. 



The most common sphinges are the Privet Moth, or Sphinx 

 lignstri, and the Convolvulus Hawk, or SpJiinx convolvidi. The 

 caterpillars of the first are well known to and prized by young 

 collectors, and are now and then seen upon the privet hedges, 

 or upon the lilac bushes. They are very fine insects, and their 

 size renders their beautiful light green colour and oblique bands 

 of violet very visible. This pretty larva feeds vigorously during 



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