i66 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



Photo by Hus^h Main,F.E.S. 



Chrysalis of the 

 Death's-head 

 Hawk-Moth. 



The chrysalis, hfre shown of 

 the natural size, is found in 

 a hollow excavated by the 

 caterpillar at a depth of eight 

 or ten inches below the sur- 

 face. It is dark red-brown 

 in colour, the spiracles or 

 breathing slits along the 

 sides being distinct because 

 coloured black. The chrysa- 

 lis condition may last only 

 about a month, or may con- 

 tinue for eight months. 



to dark green, and down the back run two yellow lines, whilst 

 others appear along the sides. It now closely resembles the 

 pine-leaves upon which it feeds. Later a reddish stripe runs 

 down the back, with a yellowish- white stripe along each side of 

 it, followed by a band of the green ground colour, then another 

 white stripe, followed by green, and so on. Later, as the 

 caterpillar increases in length, the lines get broken into shorter 

 lengths, which better keeps up the similitude to the pine-needles. 

 The moth has its wings dark grey, clouded and streaked with 

 brown. This is quite a sombre type of coloration, but it is 

 W'Onderfully effective in making the Insect invisible when 

 resting during the day on the bark of the pine-trunk. 



Another type of ornamentation is found in the caterpillars 

 of the elephant hawk-moth ^ and the small elephant. - In the 

 former the caterpillar is at first yellowish-white and cjuite 

 uniformly coloured, except that the tail-horn is black. They 

 feed upon the hairy willow-herb and species of bedstraw, and 

 their colouring makes them inconspicuous. A little later they 

 become green, and some of them retain this colour until they 

 have become full grown and three inches long ; others become 

 brown. By this time they are dotted with black and have a few 

 pale longitudinal lines. A 



more important item in 

 their development is the 

 early appearance of eye- 

 spots on certain segments 

 behind the head. After 

 the third moult these are well defined and eye- 

 like. As the size of the caterpillars is now- 

 likely to render them rather conspicuous if 

 they feed by day, they retire, after the night's 

 feeding, among dead leaves and debris at the 

 foot of the food-plant, from which thev 

 partially expose themselves in the afternoon, 

 apparently for the purpose of getting a sun- 

 bath. When in repose the head and next two 

 segments are drawn into the third, which has 

 the effect of distending this part and enlarging 

 the eye-spots, which become very prominent, 

 and look like the real eyes of some ferocious 

 little beast — an apparition sufficient to scare 

 off any food-seeking bird. The caterpillar of 

 the small elephant hawk-moth, though of 

 smaller size — two inches — is very simihi 

 decoration and habits. 



' Chaerocamixi elpcnor. 



m 



[E. SU-p, I-.L.S. 



The Privet Hawk-Moth. 



One of the commonest species, but, in spite of its large size, 

 it is very rarely seen by those who are not entomologists. 

 The colouring of its brown and grey fore-wings harmonizes 

 with its resting places, and the more conspicuous hind- 

 wings, of rosy hue banded willi black, are hidden 

 beneath the fore-wings when not in use. The caterpillar is 

 shown on page 98. 



^ C. })01"Cellus. 



