76 . . INSECTA TRANSVAALIENSIA. 



to make it at all."* The method by which this sound is produced still requires further 

 elucidation.! The late Prof. Moseley has given a full resume of the literature bearing on 

 the siibject of the cry of this Moth,]: and has condensed the opinions of Reaumur, Godart and 

 Dupronchel, Passerini, Chavannes, Ghiliani, Van der Hoeven, Westmaas, and others, on the 

 subject. Moseley came to the conclusion that "there can be no doubt that the sound is 

 produced by expiration through the proboscis," thus inclining to the views of Passerini. 

 The stridulatiou of this Moth is sometimes considered to have a terrifying influence on its 

 enemies. Thiis Poulton is of opinion that the sound is of "a warning or terrifying 

 significance," and further remarks: "Generally speaking, any sound produced by both sexes 

 on irritation or attack, and accompanied by theatening attitudes or movements ... is to be 

 interpreted, with a high degree of probability, as a warning or intimidating character."! 

 This, however, seems a dubious postulate. Dr. Alcock relates that he had in his aviary at 

 Calcutta a White-cheeked Bulbul, to whom one day he offered a new-hatched imago of the 

 larger Indian Death's-head Moth (Acherontia lachcsis). " The Bulbul attacked it at once, and 

 though the Moth stridulated loudly and fought vigorously, the bird never once flinched, and 

 was soon tearing the dead body of its noisy victim to pieces." || Mr. Marshall, in 

 Mashonaland, offered A. atropos to his Monkey (Cercopithecus pygerythrus) , who, although 

 exhibiting some alarm and caution, " proceeded to eat it all." IT 



In the south of Ireland it is known under the local name of " Bee-robber." In German 

 Poland the Moth is called the "Death's-head Phantom" and "Wandering Death's Bird."** 

 Once, on its plentiful occurrence in Brittany, it created, according to Latreille, the greatest 

 trepidation among the inhabitants, its appearance coinciding with a disastrous epidemic which 

 they charged it with bringing, or, at least, that it came to announce the fatal malady. 

 Among some Creoles an idea prevails that it is very dangerous, in that the dust cast from its 

 wings in flying through a room will blind those in whose eyes it falls. ft In the New Forest 

 in Hampshire, it is a firm belief that the Death's-head Moth " was never seen until after the 

 execution of Charles the First." :[| The Rev. W. Houghton states that, according to a 

 writer in 'Notes and Queries,' there is a quaint superstition that the Moth has been very 

 common in Whitehall ever since that execution." §§ 



Genus AMBULYX. 



Ambuhjx, Westwood, Cab. Orient. Entomol. p. 61 (1848); Hainps. Fauna Brit. India, Moths, vol. i. p. 77 (1892). 

 23. Ambulyx africanus. (Tab. III., fig. 4.) 



Pulyptijcltus (ifricanus, Distaut, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) vol. iii. p. 179 (1899). 

 Hab. — Transvaal ; Lydenburg District (Zutrzenka). 



=■' Lepid. Brit. Islands, vol. ii. p. 19. 



\ Though we maj' glean much from the celebrated controversy in which Reaumur (1742), Schroten (1785), T. Van der 

 Hoeven (185'J), support a proboscis-palpi theory; Roesel (1755), Ghiliani il844), Wagner (1836), a proboscis expiration 

 theory; Lory and Nordman (1838), the abdominal expiration theory; and Passerini (1828), Westmaas (1860), the Passerini 

 theory (c/. Swinton ' Insect Variety,' p. 120). 



* ' Nature,' vol. vi. p. 151 (1872). § Trans. Ent. Soc. Lend. 1902, p. 404. 



II ' A Natiuralist in Indian Seas,' p. 217. IT Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1902, p. 402. 



-* Badenoch, ' True Tales of the Insects,' p. 235. \\ Ibid. p. 236. 



IJ Owen, 'Forest, Field, and Fell,' p. 31. §§ ' Sketches of British Insects,' p. 79. 



