204 



THE INSECT WORLD, 



This funeral symbol, joined to the plaintive cry which this moth 

 emits when frightened, has sometimes inspired terror into the whole 

 population of a country. The appearance of this moth in certain 

 countries having coincided with the invasion of an epidemic disease, 

 some thought they saw in this doleful sylph of the night the messenger 

 of death. The Acherontia atropos plays a great part in the super- 

 stitions which are believed in by the country folk in England. One 



Fig. 192. — The Convolvulus Sphinx {Sphinx convolvult). 



hears it said in country places that this ominous inhabitant of the air 

 is in league with the witches, and that it goes and murmurs into their 

 ears with its sad and plaintive voice the name of the person whom 

 death is soon to carry off. In spite of its ominous livery, the Atropos 

 does not come from Hades ; it is no envoy of death, bringing sadness 

 and mourning. It does not bring us news of another world ; it tells 

 us, on the contrary, that Nature can people every hour ; that it was 

 her will to console them for their sadness, to grant to the twilight and 



