DESCKIPTIVE NOTICES OF CONSPICUOUS SPECIES 127 



segment ; this, instead of being sky-blue (as the Eyed 

 Hawk-moth) is yellowish above and reddish beneath. 

 It feeds on poplar, aspen, sallow, etc., in the months of 

 August and September. 



The perfect insect appears towards the middle of May, 

 and may be met with up to July ; it sits on trunks of 

 trees and palings, and always appears very sluggish by 

 day ; I have known it to fly into houses by night, 

 attracted by the lights. 



FAMILY II. SPHINGIM;. 



SMEEINTHUS TILLJS. THE LIME HAWK- 

 MOTH. 



(Plate III., Fig. 3.) 



This is the smallest and most elegant of the genus 

 Smerinthus, and it is the least plentiful, though 

 sometimes it occurs in considerable numbers. It seems 

 to be confined to the southern part of England. 



The expansion of the wings is from about 2| inches 

 to 3 inches. The fore-wings are of a pale reddish-brown, 

 shading into a very broad sandy-green hind margin ; a 

 large olive blotch on the middle of the costa almost 

 meets a smaller blotch of the same colour on the middle 

 of the inner margin ; on the costa near the tip is a small 

 whitish blotch. The hind- wings are blackish at the 

 base, then sandy-brown, intersected by an indistinct 

 blackish band. 



The larva has the skin rough, and the head pointed 

 above ; it closely resembles the larvse of the two pre- 

 ceding species, but is distinguished at a glance by the 

 followi Dg character : behind the horn there is a violet 

 escutcheon bordered with orange, of which in the other 



