162 ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH. 



there is a rounded dusky spot, and a mark of the 

 same colour is ohservahle on the base of the primary 

 wings. The legs are white, brownish internally. 



After the second change of skin the caterpillar is 

 brown, with six oblique rays and the sides of the 

 breast greyish. The fourth and fifth segments have 

 a round black spot on each side, with a lunule in 

 the centre, the edges of which are white inclining to 

 violet, and the middle olive-brown. When young, 

 the whole body is green, a colour which it occa- 

 sionally retains throughout, and in such cases the 

 oblique rays are black instead of grey. It frequents 

 different kinds of willow herb (Epilobium), lady's- 

 bedstraw, the common vine, &c. (PL xi. fig. 2.) 



This is by far the most common species of Hawk- 

 moth inhabiting Britain, as it occurs in some plenty 

 in most parts of England, especially in the south, 

 and we once found numerous specimens at the 

 base of Salisbury Craigs near Edinburgh, and have 

 seen others from different quarters of Scotland. It 

 is likewise a well known insect throughout the con- 

 tinental parts of Europe. 



