NATURE STUDY LESSONS. 159 



girl who has a box of them ma}^ rightly feel that a begin- 

 ing has been made toward a collection of lycpidoptera. 



The Sphingidae, or Hawk-moths, can boast that they 

 have in their family some of the most graceful and most 

 tastefully arrayed of all the Lepidoptera. A few of the 

 Hawk-moths are small, but the greater number are large, 

 and all have powerful wings. As a rule they fly in the 

 twilight, and they have a habit of remaining poised over a 

 flower while sucking the nectar. At such times, with the 

 swift whirring of their wings, they appear quite like Hum- 

 ming-birds, and sometimes are mistaken for them. 



No other moths present so tasteful an appearance in a 

 collection, because of the exquisite harmony of the com- 

 bined hues of ochre and brown, olive and tan, black and 

 yellow, blending with soft grays. Their slender wings, 

 tapering bodies and quiet, subdued colors give an impres- 

 sion of true refinement which their daint}^ habit of feeding 

 on nectar serves to strengthen. 



The sucking-tube in the Hawk-moths is very long — 

 .sometimes twice as long as the body — and when not in use 

 is tightly coiled beneath the head. By means of their 

 long, narrow wings, their slender, curved antennae, their 

 long sucking-tube and their dainty coloring, they are the 

 most easily recognized of the moth families. 



There are many species, and these differ greatly in size 

 and color, but the Hawk-moths all have a close family re- 

 semblance, and all sip the nectar of flowers after they are 

 grown up. As larvae or caterpillars, however, they are 

 great feeders, living upon the leaves of many kinds of 

 plants. One feeds upon the leaves of the grapevine ; an- 

 other upon the potato ; another upon the tomato, and still 

 another upon the tobacco plant. They are nearly all large, 

 green, naked and not at all attractive. Almost all boys 

 and girls in the country have seen the " potato worm," but 

 probably very few have been told that some day the 



