lOO TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 



the summer, and when full grown begins to descend to the 

 ground at the base of the tree, whose leaves it has partly 

 consumed. Towards the end of July, or the commencement of 

 August, it hides up in the earth, where it forms a comfortable 

 cocoon, and becomes metamorphosed into a chrysalis, living, 

 moreover, in that condition all through the winter, and until 

 the month of June in the next year. It then bursts forth as a 

 moth. The anatomy of this sphinx, and the details of its meta- 

 morphoses have already been described. The other sphinx has a 

 green or brown larva, marked with seven oblique side streaks, 

 and the spiracles or air openings are black in white rings. It 

 lives on the small bindweed, and on the wild balsam. The moth 

 is rather larger than that of the privet sphinx, and has a very 

 long trunk. 



Perhaps the DeilephilcB are the prettiest sphinges. Their 

 trunk is only half as long as their body, which has a long 

 and conical abdomen. These insects are rather common, and 

 their caterpillars are really very pretty, on account of the 

 variety of their colours, and the freshness of their tints. The 

 Euphorbia sphinx is one of them, and is interesting, because 

 there are two broods of it every year ; one appearing in June 

 and the other in September. Its caterpillars live upon the 

 pretty green leaves of the Euphorbia, whose stems, when broken, 

 exude a milky sap. 



Before these larvae attain their full growth they may be seen 

 in abundance on the same plant, but as they are gross feeders, 

 they soon have to separate, in order to exist. Their bodies are 

 curiously ornamented, being black in colour, and they have 

 three long lines of a carmine tint upon them, one on the 

 back, and the others above the line of the legs ; besides these 

 there are some very close points and dots of yellow arranged 

 on each segment, like coronets of pearls, and finally there are 

 two rows on each flank of rounded spots, which are sometimes 

 yellow, or even red or white and red in colour. Sometimes, 

 Avith all this elaborate colouring, the foundation is a lively 

 green instead of black. They become full grown towards the 

 end of July, and they then hide themselves in the ground, 

 after having formed a hole, and are transformed; but they do 



