SEPTEMBER. 2o7 



Lepidoptera, which may be in all probability added to the 

 collection, the Vanessa Atalantaoi 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 Acherontia A tropes, 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 resem- 

 blance to a human skull, or "Death's-head." The great size 

 of this insect, the peculiar appearance 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 



