274 DEATH'S-HEAD MOTH. 



delicious nectar from the long, pliant trunk of the humming- 

 bird hawk. 



A word now for the hawk-moth "Death's head," 1 to whom, 

 perhaps, we ought to have given precedence over all the above, 

 on account of his yet superior size and the dark celebrity of 

 his name ; but though called a " hawk," and long classed with 

 the sphinxes, he is not considered now as belonging strictly 

 to that family, from which he is distinguished by the very in- 

 ferior length of his trunk, and also of his antennae. 



The caterpillars of hawk-moths are, for the most part, very 

 distinguished animals of their kind. They are generally large, 

 with skins smooth or curiously shagreened ; most frequently 

 coloured green, and adorned on each side by oblique stripes 

 of yellow, blue, or crimson. They may be further and easily 

 discriminated from the " vulgar crew," by a stiff-pointed horn 

 rising from near the tail; also by the remarkable elevation 

 (when at rest) of the head and shoulders, while the hinder 

 legs attach them firmly to a supporting branch. From this 

 peculiar position, they have derived the Linnaaan name of 

 Sphinx after the fabled monster of antiquity. Now fora few 

 more of the distinctive features which belong, in their first 

 estate, to the " Hawks," above noticed, namely, the " Con- 

 volvulus," "Privet," "Humming-bird," "Death's head," 

 " Lime," " Poplar," and " Eyed." 



^But we must no longer creep with the hawk caterpillars, 

 or even hover, at morn or eve, with the " hawks " themselves, 

 over the dewy flowers, for we have yet to accompany, in their 

 gloomier flights, a select few from the nocturnal Phalcence 

 which compose the main body of moths proper, or second 

 grand division of Lepidopterous insects. Among these, the 

 night-fliers (holding a reverse proportion to those amongst the 

 feathered race) far exceed in number, not only the evening 



' Acherontia atropos. 



