134 DEATH'S-HEAD HAWK-MOTH. 



brown, or blackish, powdered with white, and 

 marked with several waved transverse stripes of 

 deep black, and others of rust-red, the latter colour 

 forming a series of dashes on the nervures at the 

 hinder margin of the wings. Near the centre of 

 each wing there is a small round whitish spot. 

 The secondary wings are deep yellow or ochreous, 

 with two dark bands nearly parallel with the hinder 

 margin and at some distance from it. The head 

 and thorax are nearly of the same colour as the 

 dark portion of the upper wings ; the thorax bearing 

 on its surface a large grey or yellowish spot, not 

 unaptly representing a front view of a human skull 

 or " Death's Head/* The abdomen is blackish, 

 bluish-ash down the back, with yellow transverse 

 spots on the sides of the segments. The antenna 

 are whitish at the tip, and the tarsi ringed with 

 white. 



The caterpillar, which is sometimes five inches 

 in length, is of a fine yellow, with seven oblique 

 green bands on each side and a longitudinal series 

 of blue spots on the back, which besides is spotted 

 with black and granulated. It is generally found 

 on the potato and common jasmine, but likewise 

 leeds on a variety of other plants of very dissimilar 

 qualities. The insect was formerly very scarce in 

 this country, but since the cultivation of the potato 

 became general, it has increased considerably. The 

 caterpillar, however, occurs much more frequently 

 than the moth, and as it very often dies before 

 completing its transformations, indigenous speci- 



