Hawk-Moths. 



165 



length, and of a bright, rather pale green, with the stripes violet above and 

 white or yellow below. These stripes, though in a caterpillar taken 

 away from its food-plant they appear so conspicuous and revealing, so agree 

 with the curves of the smooth margins of the privet-leaf that it is very 

 easy not to see the caterpillar when it is only a few inches from your eyes. 

 An equally plentiful species is the poplar hawk-moth, ^ whose caterpillar 

 feeds on various species of poplar, willow, etc. In this species the colour 

 is yellowish-green, made more yellow by being thickly sprinkled with small raised 

 dots of yellow. The side stripes, too, are yellow. The description is that of the 

 full-grown larva in September, by which date some of the leaves are beginning to 

 show signs of yellowing ; but they have come through phases of pale green and 

 blue-green. The caterpillars of the lime hawk-moth- and the eyed hawk-moth^ 



The Death's-head Hawk-Moth. 



The largest of our native moths. The yellow markings behind the head frequently bear a rough resemblance to a human skull, and have 

 suggested its popular name. With most persons its appearance in a house is the occasion for much superstitious alarm. It has the 

 power of squeaking. The huge caterpillar is often found in potato-fields, upon whose vegetation it feeds, and where the diggers know 

 it as a " locust." It is never sufftciently plentiful in this country to cause any real damage. 



are — speaking in general terms — similar to the last mentioned. But there is another 

 series of species in which the ornamentation of the caterjiillars is quite difterent — 

 longitudinal stripes or rows of spots taking the place, though not the exact location, 

 of the oblique stripes. 



This change in the markings has an e\ident relation to the different fecKling 

 conditions, the plants affected by them not being such as the obli(]ue stripe would 

 harmonize with. To take as an instance the caterpillar of the rare pine hawk-moth,"* 

 which feeds ujxm \]\v needle-like foliage of Scots pine and other conifers. At hrst 

 its colour is br()wnish-\'ell()W without any definite markings, but as at this time it 

 is only about a si.xth of an inch long, no markings are necessary for hiding it : its 

 general colour is suflicientlx- like the buds and bark of the pine-shoots. After its 

 first moult it is less than half an inch in length, but alread\- its colour has changed 



1 Amorplio popiili. - Dilina tili;r. ' Snu'rinthu.s oct'llatu.s. * llyloicus jiinastri. 



