32 



THE DEATH'S HEAD SPHINX. 



Sphinx Atropos. 



PLATE LXXI. 



Sphinx Atropos, Linn. Syst. Nat. ii. p. 799 Donovan's 



Brit. Ins. ix. pi. 289; Pupa and Larva, pi. 290. 

 Turton's JLinnd, ill. p. 172. 



THE Death's Head Sphinx is the largest and most 

 remarkable of its genus, if not the most beautiful of 

 all the European insects of its kind. The upper 

 wings are of a fine dark gray colour, with a few 

 variegations of yellow-orange, and sometimes, though 

 rarely, white clouds ; the under wings are of a bright 

 orange colour, marked by a pair of transverse black 

 bars, while, along the top of the back, from the thorax 

 to the tail, runs a broad, blue-gray stripe ; on the 

 top of the thorax is a very large patch of a most 

 singular appearance, exactly resembling the usual 

 figure of a skull or death's head, and is of a pale gray, 

 varied with dull ochre colour and black. 



When in the least disturbed or irritated, this insect 

 emits a stridulous sound, something like the squeak- 

 ing of a bat or a mouse ; and from this circumstance, 

 as well as from the mark above-mentioned on the 

 thorax, is held in much dread by the vulgar in several 



