THE HAWK MOTHS 



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whence it derives its scientific and trivial names. The fore-wings are dark plum 

 color, lined and spotted with the yellow; the hind-wings yellow, with two sinuous 

 transverse bars of black; and the body dark plum color, with black transverse lines, 

 and a yellow patch at the side of each segment. The most remarkable fact about 

 the moth is that it is capable of producing an audible squeak. Whether this ispro- 



OLEANDER HAWK MOTH, WITH LARVA AND PUPA. 

 (Natural size.) 



duced, as was formerly supposed, by the friction of the palpi against the coiled 

 proboscis, or by the sudden passage of air previously drawn into a cavity in the- 

 stomach through the oesophageal orifice and the proboscis, acting upon a cleft at 

 the extremity of the latter, is not certain. If, as has been asserted, the squeak does 

 not abate even on the decapitation of the moth, the air- passage theory suffers a. 

 shock, and evidently does not entirely account for the noise. The cleft at the end. 



