166 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Augast 20, 1874. 



leaves on trees situate in marshy land, may be seen entering 

 clayey earth, which, becoming hard, leads ultimately to the 

 death of the insect. Smaller species are often to be observed 

 crawUng about seeking for earth to their mind, but this does 

 not usually suit a gentleman of the more elevated race of the 

 Hawk-Moths. 



Just about this time, on Privet, Lilac, Ash, and occasionally 

 on wild Apple or Plum, feeds the caterpillar of the Privet 

 Hawk Moth, Sphinx Ligustri 

 {seefi/js. 48,49, and .50) .which 

 takes its name from its more 

 common food plant, accord- 

 ing to a plan once followed 

 by entomologists, which has 

 caused some confusion. Often 

 as this species has formed a 

 subject for comment, it is yet 

 hardly fair to exclude it from 

 the present series of papers, 

 its beauty being noteworthy 

 both in the larval and imago 

 states. 'It is frequently found 

 on the borders of the garden 

 domaiu, if not within its 

 boundaries ; and though the 

 caterpiUars lay bare a few 

 twigs in the months of August 

 and September, the species 

 cannot be reckoned as a gar- 

 den foe. I opine it has rather 

 aristocratic tastes, as year by 

 year I have hardly ever failed 

 to find the caterpillars, when 

 I sought them, on the hedges 

 environing the central spaces 

 in our Belgravian squares. 

 Tradesmen's boys occasion- 

 ally parade one upon the top 

 of a stick, but as a rule, particularly when it is getting large, 

 the Privet Hawk caterpillar keeps itself well concealed in the 

 day, feeding chiefly at night and in the early morning, anl 

 then retiring to the thicker places in the tres or bush. Some 



Fig. 48.— Privet Hawi Moth (Sphinx Ligustri'. 



tongue with which the head is furnished is kept ready for 

 action as the insect passes from flower to flower. Those cater- 

 pillars that have been fed-up on the leaves of the Lilac have 

 no chance when they emerge as moths the following year, of 

 tasting the honey of that tree, since the blossom is over before 

 the Privet Hawk Moth is out of the chrysalis ; but about the 

 flowers of the Privet in June and July the moths float with 

 delight, now and then careering-oii to visit some flower bed. 



The eggs, which are large, 

 yet not easy to find, having 

 much the colour of the Privet 

 leaf, are laid in those months, 

 and the young caterpillars 

 emerge in a few weeks. The 

 seven stripes with which the 

 body is marked are not so 

 obvious to the eye at first, 

 and the skin of the caterpillar 

 has rather a wrinkled appear- 

 ance, which disappears as it 

 grows older. 



After four successive monlts 

 during the course of seven or 

 eight weeks, the Privet Hawk 

 caterpillar exhibits itself in 

 its last garb. The surface of 

 the body is now a light green, 

 the head being of the same 

 colour, with a band of black 

 encircling it ; the extremity 

 showing the usual horn of 

 the tribe, which is now black 

 above and yeUow beneath. 

 The seven stripes on each 

 side are lilac and white, at 

 least the latter colour is not 

 disputed, but the former has 

 also been called blue, or pur- 

 plish blue, violet, and "mauve" by the ladies. What is known 

 as the " sphinx " attitude is seen to perfection in this caterpillar 

 when it happens ti be reposing on a twig — that is, the claspers 

 and part of the bo3y are firmly at rest on the twig, though 



Fig. 49.— Privet Hawk Moth, larta. 



of its brethren, as for example, the Unicorn Hawk, descend to 

 the earth or even enter it, and como forth to banquet at sunset 

 or soon after. I have not ascertained that this caterpillar has 

 received any special designation from the cockneys, though 

 occurring in various parts of London. In some of the midland 

 counties aU large caterpillars of the Hawk Moth are called 

 locusts, or, more exactly, "lokus." How this strange mis- 

 appropriation of a name arose is not easily explainable. 



The Privet Hawk Moth has wings about 4 inches across 

 when stretched-ont fully, and the nervures are remarkably 

 strong, enabling the insect to take long and rapid flights, and 

 from the size of the species, moths when on the wing high in 

 air are sometimes mistaken for bats or small birds. The fore 

 wings are grey and brown, with a rich tint of rose at the base ; 

 the hind pair of wings have a rosy pink as their ground colour, 

 crossed by three bands of dark brown. The body has very 

 distinctly marked bands of pink and black, and it is stout and 

 heavy. In the dusk of evening the eyes of this moth are seen 

 to sparkle like two balls of fire, while the long proboscis or 



Fig. 50.— Privet Hawk Moth, pupa. 



the head, legs, and the first segments of the body are raised in 

 the air. Hence, as the story goes, the gardener of Roesel, the 

 German entomologist, was greatly disgusted with these cater- 

 pillars, he considering the posture as a proof of self-conceit 

 and vanity ! The object is probably the deceiving of birds, 

 which might otherwise carry-off this caterpillar as a large but 

 choice morsel. That they do occasionally pick it up, I have 

 had positive proof. Should anyone touch a caterpillar gently 

 while thus in repose, it will be found to shake itself to and fro 

 as if resenting the affront ; should the assault be more violent 

 most generally the creature falls suddenly to the ground. Mr. 

 Wood tells a droU story, not much to the credit of a University 

 man, who asserted that a Privet Hawk caterpillar assaulted a 

 lady and bit a piece of flesh out of her arm ! Certainly it is well 

 provided with jaws, but it shows no desire even if irritated to 

 seize the human hand ; and, indeed, from the sideway manner 

 in which the jaws of a caterpillar cut, it could not easily do so 

 were it disposed. There are some caterpillars, several of them 

 belonging to the family of Pseudo-Bombyces, which exhibit 



