NATURE IN OCTOBER. 



IT seems as recent as yesterday that we were complaining of 

 the terrible heat and longing for a change to cooler weather. It 

 is here all too soon for it is quite chilly now, and as I write, 

 although it is only six in the evening, the Bat has commenced 

 its night prowls, and the last long straggling flock of Rooks has 

 passed overhead to the roost trees. Last month it will be 

 remembered I mentioned a very beautiful Caterpillar found in 

 my garden. It was the Caterpillar of the Privet Hawk Moth. 

 The main colour is yellowish green, on either side it has seven 

 stripes of heliotrope and white, which, as seen on the yellowish 

 green ground, is one of the most beautiful blendings in Nature, 

 and a wonderful example of her handiwork. All Caterpil- 

 lars of the Hawk Moths have a horny protuberance at the ex- 

 tremity of the back; the curved horn on the Privet Hawk 

 Moth Caterpillar is shiny black, yellowish at the base. It has 

 a dark green head, four large double sets of crawlers and three 

 small double sets, as well as two at the extremity. 



I can only add here that these Caterpillars possess wonder- 

 ful clinging powers, and to watch them feeding is a study in 

 itself. They dig into the privet leaves as quickly and as suc- 

 cessfully as a circular saw goes through a log, and when I 

 state 'that one in my possession devoured thirty privet leaves 

 in eight hours it will be seen that a hedge of privet invaded 

 by a horde of these creatures may soon be stripped of every 

 vestige of foliage. The Goat Moth Caterpillar, too, is a very 

 beautiful one, having a patch of chestnut red on the back of 

 each segment of its long body, with an entirely black head. 



It does not consume the foliage of trees like so many other 

 Caterpillars, but derives its nutriment from the solid wood, 

 which it readily comminutes by the action of its jaws. 



As I have commenced my October sketch by a reference to 

 Caterpillars of the Hawk Moths, it is interesting to notice that 



