102 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t August 7, 1873. 



m 



BO as to provoke ns to cleanliness, is as old as many school 

 books, and we take it for what it is worth. There is another 

 theory, that certain of these seeming pests act somewhat on 

 the principle of the Roman Nettles — they keep us up to the 

 mark, and prevent our blood from stagnating, and drive it 

 from the central organs of the body to the limbs, where con- 

 gested vessels would do less harm. 'Who knows whether the 

 sting of a wasp or the puncture of a flea has not saved some 

 from sunstroke or fever? The idea is quite as plausible as 

 that Tenterden steeple was the cause of the Goodwin Sands. 

 Even the barb of the gnat, an ii sect we 

 were discussing recently, and whose weapon 

 is here figured,* may be as wholesome as a 

 Burgeon's lancet, and give the species and 

 its allies a new claim to be deemed useful 

 visitants in a garden ; that they are not with- 

 out beauty we have already noted. 



Among our garden visitants iu the autumn 

 is a lively and tolerably handsome moth, 

 though it has no bright colours, and its 

 claim on our admiration rests partly upon 

 the fact that it exhibits the " poetry of 

 motion," its attitudes in flight and in semi- 

 repose being elegant, though not so grand as 

 are those of others of the Hawk-moth tribe. 

 This is well known to entomologists as tho 

 Humming-bird Hawkf (Macroglossa stella- 

 tarum), taking its English name from its 

 rajrid course on the wing, and tho sound 

 which frequently accompanies this. The 

 Latin was suggested by the long tongue or 

 proboscis, and, I conjecture, by the supposed 

 attachment shown by the species to stellate 

 flowers. This is an insect which has at 

 times sorely vexed the souls of newspaper 

 paragraphists, who have recorded its appear- 

 ance under the heading, " Humming I3ird3 

 in England," and have been compelled 

 thereafter to explain the error into which 

 they had unwittingly fallen. Iu some years, 

 as in 1868, for instance, quite a swarm of S in* 

 communications have been sent to editors I^anceta and Tongue 

 by persons iu all parts of the country, de- "' *^■"'■'• 



scribing this tropical phenomenon, because the insect was 





Humming-bird Hawli Moth (Macroglossa stellatarum). 



* We are indebted for the illustration to Hardwicke's " Science Gossip.'' 

 t This and the remaining engravings accompanying the present article are 



from Figuier'a " Insect World," and have kindlj' been placed at our Eerrico 



by Messrs. Casstll, the publishers. 



more abundant than usual, and often exhibited itself in towns 

 and about conservatories. Vaiu iu many cases is it to assert 

 what was the real nature of the marvel — 



" Convince a man against his will. 

 He holds the same opinion still." 



Did they not witness themselves the mysterious arrival of the 

 interesting exotic, which stole upon them at the dusk, and 

 poised itself over some fragrant blossom, "fanning" its tail, 

 and then with a melodious hum dashed off to other flowers, 

 its eyes all the while sparkling like " diamonds of the Orient ?" 

 And you would have them believe that this object was no bird, 

 nay, more, actually an insect which had been bred on a bank 

 not far from their own doors ? Preposterous ! Vain is it to 

 show such persons specimens 

 of the insect, unless, as may 

 not often happen, you can 

 secure the identical one they 

 saw, otherwise they will still 

 maintain that their's was 

 " quite different." That there 

 is a resemblance between the 

 motions of this moth and that 

 of the bird in question is 

 granted, and the fact is notice- 

 able that iu some parts of 

 Prance, where the children 

 know, probably, little or no- 

 thing about natural history, they call this moth the 



fly-" 



It has been questioned if Macroglossa stellatarum ever 

 flies at night; and this is certain, that it prefers daylight, or at 

 least twilight, for its aerial journeys, which are always taken 

 with a purpose. In warm weather I fancy the moth is less in- 

 clined to be on the wing during the period the sun is high iu 

 the heavens ; but on cool days, and later iu the season, as 

 during October, I have seen " Humming-bii'ds " at all hours 

 between sunrise and sunset, not " hawking " certainly, but 

 busy in the pursuit of sweets. The insect divides its time 

 between the flowers of the field and those of the garden ; to 

 some of the latter it is particularly devoted, as to the Jessa- 

 mine and the Petunia. Specimens not uufrequently enter 

 houses, having been attracted to open windows by the plants 

 placed thereat or growing up the waUs. I do not think it often 

 visits the sugary compound spread by insect-catchers on trunks 

 of trees, though it has one odd taste, to which I called atten- 

 tion some years ago — viz., that it will visit and hover over the 



Macroglossa stellatarum — Caterpillar. 



' Bird- 



X 'i 



Macroglossa stellatarum — Pupa. 



heaps of coals which are piled up iu proximity to some 

 railway stations. No doubt the moths are drawn to these by 

 the organ of smell, but the fancied resemblance deceives them 

 as they cannot get honey from coal, though we make it yield 

 us sweet perfumes. 



The Humming-bird Hawk moth is not an insect much given 

 to vary in the perfect state, though we have two marked 

 varieties of the caterpillar. The fore wings, of a deep brown, 

 are crossed by waved lines of a black shade, while the hind 

 wings, much less in size, are orange, and darker in hue at the 

 base and margins. The brown thorax harmonises with the 

 fore wings, but the abdomen is curiously chequered with black 

 and white. Both these are so well clad with hair that unless 

 the insect is making its peculiar hum it may fleet'past us, and 

 we should not perceive it ; by means of a tuft at the extremity of 

 the body, aided by the vibration of the wings, the moth poises 

 itself, and plies its long tongue very cllectivel}'. As late as 

 November individuals have been seen at the autumn flowers 

 yet surviving, but most have hybernated (or died off ?) before 

 that time. In Britain the species seems to be continued by 

 the re-appearance in the spring of a part, if not all, of tb« 



