160 SHARP-WINGED HAWK-MOTH. 



down the centre, and a row of small spots on each 

 side of it from the third segment to the apex. 



The caterpillar varies in colour, hut is most com- 

 monly brown, with two yellow lines on each side, 

 the lower one composed of crescent-shaped spots 

 and passing over the stigmata, the other com- 

 mencing on the sixth segment and extending to 

 the hinder extremity. The fourth and fifth seg- 

 ments are ornamented with two large ocelli, having 

 a white pupil and a yellow iris. The ordinary 

 food of this larva is the common vine ( Vitis Vini- 

 fera), a circumstance which, taken in connexion 

 with its rare occurrence in Britain, has occasioned 

 <jonsiderable doubts as to its being an aboriginal 

 native of this country. On the continent, however, 

 it is known likewise to feed on the yellow lady's- 

 bedstraw (Galium v&rum), and it is not improbable 

 that it can subsist, like the majority of its tribe, on 

 seveijal other plants. At the same time it appears 

 properly to belong to a southern latitude, as it is 

 not found in any considerable numbers except in 

 the south of Europe, and its chief residence is the 

 island of Teneriffe and the Cape of Good Hope. It 

 has occurred near Oxford, Wisbeach, in the Isle of 

 Ely, and a few other places. 



