INSECTS. 



•JT7 



regarded as among the treasures of the entomological cabinet. In nam 

 them the calendar of mythology has been extensively called upon, and 

 Ave have Io, Maia, and Prometheus moths in addition to those already 

 attended to. Here also come the tiger-moths, the tussock-moths, and the 

 bag-worms, — forms too numerous to mention. 



A little moth shown in our next cut is a good representative of a 

 group of injurious species which attack currant-bushes, peach and pear 

 trees, and grape-vines. They are elegant and gayly colored, and a 1. 

 part of the wings are without scales and transparent, [ndeed, the Bhape 

 of the body and wings, together with this transparence, make them 

 resemble so closely some of the wasps that sometimes 

 even experienced entomologists are deceived ; and if their 

 keen eyes are at fault, why should we not suppose thai 

 the birds, who know nothing of the technical characters 

 separating Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera, will let these Fro.m 

 forms severely alone for fear of taking a stinging insect 

 into their mouths ? 



Rivalling the silk-worm moths in numbers and beauty, but nol in 

 value, are the swift-flying, narrow-winged hawk-moths. In scientific works 

 they figure under the name Sphinx, given, it is said, in allusion to a habit 

 which the larvce have of holding the head elevated and the body motion- 

 less for hours at a time in the way 

 that the monster of Egypt was sup- 

 posed to do. The resemblance, it 

 must be admitted, is rather remote. 

 Another common name — humming- 

 bird moths — is far more appropriate, 

 for in the dusk of evening one may 



see some of them hovering before the flowers just as do the humming- 

 birds, the wings in the most rapid vibration producing a humming noise, 

 and the long proboscis probing the blossoms in search of nectar. 



Apropos of the name humming-bird moth the following from the paj - 

 of Bates' ' Naturalist on the Amazons' is interesting: "Several timi 

 shot by mistake a humming-bird hawk-moth instead of a bird- This moth 

 (Macroglossa titan) is somewhat smaller than humining-birds generally 

 are, but its manner of flight and the way it poises itself before 

 whilst probing it with its proboscis are precisely like the sam< acti< 

 humming-birds. It was only after several days' experience th.v 1 lea 

 to distinguish one from the other when on the wing. This 

 has attracted the notice of the natives, all of whom, even educafc 

 firmly believe that one is transmutable into the other. The}- have 



Fig. 274. — Tobacco-worm (Phleyethonti"- 



