BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 189 



of different species of British butterflies is very small 

 as compared with the moths, but they are much 

 more generally known and recognized by the non- 

 scientific, principally on account of their diurnal 

 habits, and partly by reason of their brighter 

 colours. 



In a popular volume on British moths there occurs 

 the following summary of the differences between 

 moths and butterflies : " In the first place, moths 

 fly by night instead of by day ; in the second place, 

 their bodies, are not nipped at the middle, or waist, 

 like those of butterflies; in the third place, their 

 feelers, or antenna, have no 

 knobs at the end like those of 

 butterflies ; and, in the fourth . 

 and last place, when a moth is 

 at rest its wings are either laid 

 on its body or folded round its 

 sides, whilst those of a butterfly 

 stand up straight, quite upright, 

 and back to back." Bearing these four distinctions 

 in mind, no difficulty need be experienced. 



The Hawk -moths, or Sphinxes, have long, very 

 thick bodies, and long, narrow wings. Once seen, 

 never to be forgotten. We have taken the privet 

 hawk-moth, and the lime hawk-moth, in woods, 

 but they are not lovers of such localities ; gardens are 

 generally more productive. Caterpillars as large as 

 the little finger, often of a pea-green colour, with a 

 prominent horn near the tail, should be preserved 

 and fed. By this means one may make the ac- 

 quaintance of a hawk-moth. 



