202 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



shed upon the night air, a mute invitation to the 

 vine's best friends, the " hawk or li sphinx " moths. 



Several sorts of these sphinxes visit the flowers 

 during the earlier hours of the night. One, who 

 begins his supper before daylight has faded, is 

 rather larger than a bumble-bee. His body and 

 upper wings are in dull shades of gray and brown, 

 but on his under wings are patches of * 'sunset "- 

 pink, which show that his habits are crepuscular 

 rather than nocturnal. For the true night-moths, 

 the "butterflies of the earth's shadow," are dun- 

 colored, gray, or white. Nature, which never 

 wastes, has withheld from them the colors which 

 would be invisible to their mates, and has 

 sent them abroad as sombrely clad as so many 

 nuns and friars. This little visitor, with the bright 

 colors on his wings, roves abroad in the evening 

 and morning twilight when there is enough light 

 to reveal his adornment to his lady-love. 



Later in the night, when he has supped, the 

 vine will be visited by larger sphinxes, dusky or 

 sad-colored, as are all insects which fly in dark- 

 ness. All these moths have large proboscises, 

 which can reach down to the bases of deep and 

 slender blossom-tubes, and which coil up like 

 watchsprings when the insects are at rest. 



