THE CONVOLVULUS HAWK-MOTH. 29 



Caterpillars hatched out July 27-28. These were whitish green, 

 with a rough blackish horn ; after second moult they became 

 green, with a darker green stripe along the back, but without 

 oblique side stripes. 



In its more usual form the caterpillar, when full grown, is 

 bright apple-green, narrowly streaked with black ; oblique 

 stripes on the sides yellowish ; horn reddish, tip black. Head 

 green, with black stripes. In some examples the side stripes 

 are edged above with bluish black ; in others there are blackish, 

 more or less square, spots on the back, and patches on the sides. 

 Sometimes the general colour is blackish brown, with ochreous 

 bands and streaks. (This form is figured on Plate 9). When 

 it occurs in these islands it is generally found on the small 

 bindweed {Convolvulus arvensis)^ but it will eat C. sepium and 

 C. soldanella^ and also the cultivated kinds. 



Referring to the caterpillar in Britain, Moses Harris, in 1775, 

 wrote, " I never heard of but two that were ever found — one by 

 Mr. South [or Smith] of Hampshire, which, he said, was green, 

 and appeared in other respects so like the privet that he was 

 deceived. He fed it on the leaves of the lesser bindweed. It 

 changed into the chrysalis in the earth, in July, and the moth 

 was produced in September" (Dale). 



The caterpillar figured by Harris is of the brown form, so we 

 see that even at this early date something was known of the 

 life history of this moth and the variation of the caterpillar. 

 Since that date and up to 1894 only very few larvae appear to 

 have been found in our islands. Barrett states that it is doubtful 

 if more than twenty had then been recorded. In 1895 cater- 

 pillars were obtained in Cornwall (four) and in Kent (two). 

 Then for five years httle or nothing was reported about this 

 stage, although the moth seems to have occurred in varying 

 numbers each year. In 1901, August and September, over 

 one hundred were reported, rather more than half of which 

 were taken from a hedgerow, overgrown with C. sepmvi^ in 



