THE DEATH'S HEAD MOTH. 235 



the sound is of a defensive character, and is made when 

 the animal is irritated or disturbed. It appears to result 

 from a lateral action of the large mandibles or jaws, 

 which are furnished on their outer surface with some 

 minute prominences ; and when one jaw is outside, and 

 passing over the other, it is momentarily arrested by 

 the prominence of the latter, and falls sharply against 

 its outer surface towards its base, the sudden jerk and 

 collision between the two hard chitinous substances 

 probably causing the sound. 



An Object of Alarm to the Superstitious. 



It is not surprising that a creature invested with so 

 many startling attributes should be the object of super- 

 stitious beliefs and alarm among ignorant country folk. 

 That it is nocturnal in habit, concealing itself in some 

 obscure spot during the day, and appearing on the wing 

 only in the morning and evening twilight, serves but to 

 intensify the unfounded fear. In Eastern Europe, where 

 some years it is extremely abundant — so much so as to 

 enter houses, and at times extinguish the lights — it is 

 regarded with horror as an evil omen, a forerunner 

 of war, pestilence, famine, and death to man and 

 beast. They call it the Death's Head Phantom and 

 Wandering Death's Bird in German Poland, convincing 



