206 



THE INSECT WORLD. 



The death's-head hawk-moth would be a very inoffensive being if 

 it did not make its way into beehives, in order to steal the honey, of 

 which it is excessively fond. It is to no purpose that the bees dart 

 their stings at the intruder, they only blunt them against its thick skin, 

 and soon, terrified at its presence, disperse on all sides. 



Fig. 194. Larva of ihe Death's-head Hawk-Moth (Acherontia atropos). 



The caterpillar of the Acherontia atropos (Fig. 194) is the largest 

 of all European caterpillars. It attains to as much as four and a half 

 inches in length by eight lines in diameter. Its colour is lemon yellow, 

 which changes into green on the sides and belly. From the fourth to 

 the tenth ring inclusively it is ornamented laterally with seven oblique 

 bands of an azure blue, which are tinted with violet, and bordered 

 with white on the side. These bands joining together over the back 

 of each segment resemble so many chevrons placed parallel to each 



