172 



POTATOES. 



in the latter part of the summer I have inserted the above 

 account, extracted entirely from Curtis's ' Farm Insects.' 



Death's-Head Moth. Achcnuitht atropos, Linn. 





Death's-Head Moth and caterpillar. 



The caterpillar of this moth is sometimes found in great 

 numbers feeding on Potato-leaves, but it seldom does any 

 serious amount of damage. 



When full-grown these caterpillars are of great size, some- 

 times measuring four or five inches in length. They are thick 

 and fleshy, with a pair of feet on each of the three segments 

 behind the head, four pairs of sucker-feet, and another pair 

 set close together beneath the last segment which act as 

 claspers. Above this pair, on the back of the caterpillar, is a 

 protuberance like a tail or horn, tubercled, and bent down- 

 wards, but turned up again at the tip. The head is horny, 

 and furnished with strong jaws. The colour is generally 

 yellow, or greenish yellow, speckled with black on the back, 

 with seven slanting stripes of blue or lilac on each side ; the 

 upper end of these stripes forms a kind of row of points, where 

 they meet along the back, the lower end points forward, and 

 is white or bordered by a white line. When about to change, 

 the caterpillar turns to a lurid yellowish or reddish tint. It 

 then goes down into the earth, throws off its skin, and turns 

 to a large chestnut-coloured chrysalis. The caterpillars that 



