PRIVET HAWK-MOTH. 141 



broad longitudinal brown stripe, haying a narrow 

 black line down the middle. 



The caterpillar is one of the most beautiful be- 

 longing to this tribe. It is of large size, and of a 

 fine apple-green colour, ornamented with seven 

 oblique stripes on each side of the body, purple 

 anteriorly, and white behind. The stigmata are 

 orange-yellow, and the caudal horn yellow on the 

 under side and black above. Its ordinary food is 

 the leaves of the common privet, but it likewise 

 consumes the different kinds of lilac ( ' Syringce), 

 the ash, the elder, and laurel (Daphne laureola). 

 It generally changes into a chrysalis in the month 

 of August, but occasionally at a much earlier period, 

 as the moth has been sometimes observed on the 

 wing in July. It constructs no cocoon properly so 

 called, but merely forms an oval chamber in the 

 earth, the sides of which it consolidates by the 

 pressure of its body, and by uniting the particles by 

 means of a glutinous secretion discharged from the 

 moutji. 



It is of not unfrequent occurrence in many parts 

 of the south of England, especially in Cambridge- 

 shire and the counties adjoining, but becomes rarer 

 in the north, and is seldom noticed in Scotland 

 although it occurs occasionally. It abounds in 

 many parts of the continent. 



