THE DEATH'S-HEAD HAWK MOTH. 25 



the general colour is some shade of green, varying to yellowish, 

 but in some examples it is brown, more or less tinged with 

 violet ; others again are of a blackish hue. The seven oblique 

 side stripes are purplish or violet brown, edged with yellowish ; 

 they are absent from the three rings nearest the head ; the 

 rough, double curved horn is of the body colour. The 

 greenish forms are sprinkled with violet dots, and the brownish 

 forms with white ones. Most frequently found on the leaves 

 of potato ; it feeds also on the " tea-tree " {Lyciuni bar- 

 baru7n\ woody nightshade {So/amnn didcatnard)^ and snow- 

 berry {Symphoricarpus). Fig. i, Plate 9, represents the brown 

 form of the caterpillar. 



When ready to enter the chrysalis state, the caterpillar 

 burrows from 2 to 4 inches below the surface of the soil, and 

 there forms a large chamber, the walls of which are not very 

 substantial and are easily broken. After resting therein for a 

 week, or two, it turns to a dark brownish, rather glossy, chrysalis. 

 (Plate II, Fig. i). The earthen cocoon, frail as it is, seems to 

 be a protection to the chrysalis, guarding it from too much 

 moisture on the one hand, or dryness on the other. I always 

 found that when chrysalids from caterpillars that I have obtained 

 were left undisturbed the moths emerged well enough ; but when 

 they were turned up out of the ground by the potato diggers, and, 

 of course, without covering, they were almost certain to perish 

 if the attempt were made to keep them through the winter. In 

 the latter case, the only chance was to endeavour to induce the 

 moth to emerge as soon as possible by bringing them under the 

 combined influence of warmth and moisture. 



This species was known to MoufFctt, who figured it in 1634, 

 but it does not appear to have received an English name until 

 1773, when Wilkes figured it as the "Jasmine Hawk Moth." 

 Moses Harris, in 1775, called it the "Bee Tyger Hawk Moth,-' 

 but three years later he changed the name to the Death's 

 Head, the name by which it is still known, although in some 



