244 



D E A T H WAT C H. 



with two deutiite black fascia ; the abdomen, which is 

 very robust, is also clay-coloured with black bands, 

 and a black central dorsal line. The thorax is 

 blackish grey, with a large central, pale, irregular 



Death's head Moth. 



patch, in which are two round black spots. " This 

 grand species," observes Mr. Haworth, Lepidoptera 

 Britannica, p. 56, " is at once the largest and the 

 only one as yet discovered of this order of insects 

 which is endowed with the powers of voice, almost 

 every individual of the insect world, the hymenopte- 

 rous part excepted, is mute. My tutor in entomology 

 once had a male and female of A. atropos brought him 

 alive in the winged state, both of which, when he had 

 occasion to destroy them, uttered plaintive sounds, 

 which he compared to the squeaking of a mouse." 

 He then proceeds to give an account of the various 

 sounds produced by insects, all of which we may 

 observe are not caused, as in the vertebrated animals, 

 by the aid of air which is respired, but by some ex- 

 ternal apparatus designed for such particular purpose. 

 The cry of the Death's-head moth does not appear 

 however (as Messrs. Kirby and Spence observe) to 

 be produced by the wings, for when they as well as 

 the thorax and abdomen are held down, the cries of 

 the insect become still louder ; according to Schrceter, 

 the noise is accompanied by the rubbing of the tongue 

 against the head, whilst Roesel considers that it is 

 produced by the faction of the head and thorax. 

 Reaumur, however, thought it was caused by the 

 friction of the tongue against the palpi, as he found 

 that it ceased when the tongue was unfolded by the 

 assistance of a pin ; as was also the case when the 

 palpi were prevented from touching it : so also, on 

 cutting off one of the palpi, the noise became more 

 feeble. M. Passerini, however, has lately investigated 

 the subject anatomically, and traced the origin of the 

 sound to the interior of the head, in which he disco- 

 vered a cavity at the passage into which the muscles 

 are placed for impelling and expelling air : the cause, 

 as he thinks, of the sound in question. M. Dumeril 

 has since discovered a sort of tympanum stretched 

 over the cavity, like, as he says, to the head of a 

 drum (tendue comme la peau d'un tambour). Other 

 opinions have been given by Messrs. Lorrey and 

 Duponchel, for which we must refer to Mr. Stephens' 

 invaluable work, vol. 1, p. 117. The caterpillar of 

 this insect, also, if alanned, draws suddenly back, 

 making at the same time a rather loud noise, some- 

 what like the crack of an electric spark. 



Our readers will not require to bib reminded of the 

 numerous instances in which the accidental appear- 

 ance of insects in more than ordinary numbers has 

 been regarded by the vulgar with astonishment and 

 alarm : hence it is not surprising that the sudden 

 visitation of the Death's-head moth should be regarded 

 as ominous and as the forerunner of death. Latreille, 

 (Hist. Nat. 14, 128,) tells us that it appeared one year 



in Briltany in great numbers, and as at this period 

 an epidemic malady was niging with much violence, 

 the mortality was attributed by the ignorant to the 

 harmless moth. 



Another peculiarity connected with the history of 

 this moth, consists in its attacking bee-hives, ravaging 

 the honey, and dispersing the inhabitants. It is sin- 

 gular that a creature, with only the advantage of size, 

 hould dare, without sting or shield, singly to attack 

 in their strongholds a people so numerous and so well 

 armed with means of defence ; and still more singular 

 that, amongst so many thousands of bees, it should 

 always contend victoriously. Huber, who first noticed 

 this circumstance, thus reasons upon the subject. 

 " A moth is the dread of superstitious people, may it 

 not also exercise a secret influence over insects, and 

 liave the faculty either by sound or some other means 

 of paralyzing their courage. May not such sounds as 

 inspire the vulgar with dread, be also the dread of 

 bees." The same author states, that he was eye-wit- 

 ness of the curious fact that the bees, as if expecting 

 their enemy had barricaded themselves by means of 

 a thick wall of propolis and wax, completely obstruct- 

 ing the entrance of the hive, but penetrated by pass- 

 ages for one or two workers at a time, thus securing 

 themselves, by an admirable sagacity, against the in- 

 efficiency of their weapons and their courage. " The 

 art of warfare amongst bees," he adds, " is, therefore, 

 not restricted to attacking their enemies ; they know 

 also how to construct ramparts as shelter from thoir 

 enterprises, from the part of simple soldiers they pass 

 to engineers," instructing us that at the season when 

 the moth appears, when too wasps and bees attack 

 the hive, it is advantageous to narrow the entrances 

 to the hive, so as to prevent the depredations of these 

 obnoxious insects. 



The moth appears in the winged state at the close 

 of the autumn, the caterpillar being full fed at the end 

 of September, and a very few weeks only being re- 

 quired to bring the moth to perfection. The cater- 

 pillar is very large and handsome, being of a pale 

 greenish yellow colour spotted with black, with seve- 

 ral lateral oblique stripes of beautiful blue and green. 

 It feeds upon the potato, as well as occasionally on 

 the jasmine, artfully concealing itself in the day time 

 on such parts of the stems of the plants as are best 

 covered with overshadowing leaves, but although they 

 feed well, and complete their transformation to chry- 

 salis, it is difficult to obtain them in the winged state, 

 generally dying during their pupation. " Perhaps," 

 observes Mr. Haworth, " in a state of nature they 

 perform their extraordinary metamorphoses deeper 

 in the ground, and consequently in a moister and 

 more equal temperature than most other species of 

 Lepidoptera; and, if so, the cause of their perishing 

 in our breeding cages is, undoubtedly, owing to their 

 having in these cages too scanty and too dry a soil." 

 We have known specimens obtained in the winged 

 state, by placing them upon potatoes growing in pots 

 in the open air, plunged into the earth, and the plant 

 covered with gauze. The caterpillar has a curious 

 horn upon the back, near the extremity of the body. 



DEATH WATCH. A small coleopterous insect 

 belonging to the section Pentamera, family Ptinidte, 

 and genus Anobium, which lives in timber and wood- 

 work, and makes a slight noise, somewhat like the 

 ticking of a watch. As in the Death's-head moth, we 

 have here an instance of that lamentable pronene?s 

 amongst the vulgar and uneducated, for investing tlie 



