102 



TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 



of an acid and disagreeable smell, similar to that of the milk 

 of the plant, only worse. When a larva, after rambling about, 

 finds a fresh plant to his taste, he sets to at once upon the 

 bottom leaves, merely raising his head from the ground, and 

 devours all within his reach, before proceeding to climb the 

 stem. These bottom leaves are, of course, very inferior, but 

 were the large larvae, who are old enough to travel, to mount 

 up to the top of the plant at once, and eat all the tender 

 shoots, of course all the tiny individuals just out of their eggs 

 would be starved." 



Some very beautiful sphinges which belong to the genus 



CATERPILLAR OF Charocafiipii iierii. 



CJuzrocampa are occasionally found in England, but their home 

 is on the shores of the Mediterranean sea, where their gigantic 

 caterpillars revel upon the leaves of the delicate oleanders. 



In this country they have been found upon those plants and 

 upon fuchsias and the epilobium, and they have their mouths 

 especially adapted for biting the rather dense and thick leaves. 

 The upper lip is very hard and is deeply notched, so that it can 

 hold the leaf tightly, whilst the pair of strong denticulate jaws 

 can cut pieces out of it without any difficulty. Sometimes the 

 Oleander Sphinx wanders to the north, out of the region of the 

 wild oleanders, and it has been taken in Paris, and even on the 

 south coast of England. The caterpillar is green and some- 

 times yellow, and has two large eye-shaped spots on the fourth 

 segment, a longitudinal white streak on each side, and numerous 



