36 LIFE AND SPORT IN HAMPSHIRE 



handle of my garden roller when this was new and 

 painted with gaudy colours. It mistook these rings 

 of coarse colour for blossoms to which they bore 

 little likeness. The bee or butterfly appears to be 

 only infallible of eye whilst it is very close to the 

 object. At a little distance, perhaps, it sees just a 

 blob of colour ; it must come very near to make 

 out the exact form and texture of the thing observed. 

 To read the flowers aright, it must have its face 

 pressed close to the petals, as a short-sighted man 

 must have his face pressed to the book. Once at 

 close quarters, however, the insect sight is very power- 

 ful ; it has every detail under microscope. 



Another thing about the little sphinx moth is the 

 quickness with which it discovers whether a blossom 

 has honey or not, when it is up to the flower and 

 poised. That fine feeler, the trunk, is out in the 

 flash of a second if there be no honey. How does 

 the sphinx carry its trunk when it is honey-seeking 

 and roving from blossom to blossom ? Well, when 

 the flowers are very close together, when they belong 

 to one bed or patch, the sphinx does not neatly roll 

 up the trunk and pack it away. Nor is the trunk 

 carried about quite unrolled. A sort of compromise 

 is convenient. The trunk is kept out, quite loosely 

 rolled up. Thus it does not hinder the movements 

 of the moth, and it is ready to straighten out and 

 plunge into the nectary of the flower. 



Diversity in the style of insect-flight is at least as 



