SEPTEMBER, 237 



Lepidoptera, which may be in all probability added to the 

 collection, the Vanessa Atalanta, or Red Admiral, whose 

 lovely wings are seen quivering with intense happiness, as it 

 settles on a dahlia or other autumnal flower, or sometimes 

 winging its way through an open vista of a wood, looking 

 rather like the produce of the tropics than an inhabitant of 

 our northern clime ; and the Acker ontia Atropos, or Death's- 

 head Moth, which is the largest lepidopterous insect found 

 in England, and, with one exception, the largest in Europe, 

 as it sometimes measures nearly five inches across the wings, 

 and females have been found of even still larger dimensions. 

 The somewhat formidable English name given to this insect 

 is derived from a large yellowish mark on the thorax, bearing 

 considerable resemblance to a human skull, or "Death's- 

 head." The great size of this insect, the peculiar appear- 

 ance on its thorax, and the power it possesses of making 

 a mournful sound when alarmed, render the Death's-head 

 Moth an object of great curiosity and interest. There are 

 many conjectures as to the mode by which it emits the cry 

 referred to : some authors suppose it to proceed from the 

 friction of one organ against another, such as the head and 

 thorax, or the tongue and palpi; others imagine it to be 

 caused by the motion of the wings; but more recent in- 



