234 MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 



they sometimes, to show their courage, put themselves in 

 a posture of defence, and even have in view the annoy- 

 ance as well as the repelling of their foes. The great 

 rove- beetle (Goerius olens) presents an object sufficiently 

 terrific, when with its large jaws expanded, and its abdo- 

 men turned over its head, like a scorpion, it menaces its 

 enemies, some of which this ferocious attitude may deter 

 from attacking it. Mr. Bjngley informs us that the giant 

 earwig (Labidura gigantea), a rare species that his re- 

 searches have added to the catalogue of British insects, 

 turns up over its head, in a similar manner, its abdomen, 

 which being armed at the end with a large forceps must 

 give it an appearance still more alarming a . 



The caterpillars of some hawk-moths (Sphinx], par- 

 ticularly that which feeds upon the privet, when they re- 

 pose, holding strongly with their prolegs the branch on 

 which they are standing, rear the anterior part of their 

 body so as to form nearly a right angle with the poste- 

 rior ; and in this position it will remain perfectly tran- 

 quil, thus eluding the notice of its enemies, or alarm- 

 ing them, perhaps for hours. Reaumur relates that a 

 gardener in the employment of the celebrated Jussieu 

 used to be quite disconcerted by the self-sufficient air of 

 these animals, saying they must be very proud, for he 

 had never seen any other caterpillars hold their head so 

 high 5 . From this attitude, which precisely resembles 

 that which sculptors have assigned to the fabulous mon- 

 ster called by that name, the term Sphinx has been used 

 to designate this genus of insects. The caterpillar of a 

 moth (Lophopteryx camelina) noticed by the author just 

 quoted, whenever it rests from feeding, turns its head 



* PLATE I. FIG. 7- Linn, Trans, x. 404 b Reauni. ii. 253. 



