Night Flowers 



203 



Thfey sip like humming-birds, poised above the 

 flower on whirring wings, and hence are some- 

 times known as " humming-bird moths." They 

 are called " hawk-moths," on account of the swift- 

 ness of their flight, and "sphinxes," because the 

 caterpillars from which they develop have a curi- 



Sphinx ligustri. Sphinx convolvuli. 



FIG. 54. Nocturnal guests of the honeysuckle. 

 (From Tiguier's Insect World.) 



ous habit of remaining motionless, with their heads 

 and the forepart of their bodies raised in an at- 

 titude a little like that of the crouching-sphinxes 

 of old Egypt. A few hawk-moths fly by day, 

 but most species rove abroad during the morning 

 and evening twilight, when they may be seen flit- 

 ing with great swiftness from flower to flower 

 (Fig. 54). 



