SEPTEMBER. 239 



workers at a time, thus securing themselves by an ad- 

 mirable sagacity against an enemy they could not resist. 

 " The art of war amongst Bees/' he says, " is, therefore, 

 not restricted to attacking their enemies ; they know also 

 how to construct ramparts as shelter for their enterprises ; 

 from the part of simple soldiers, they pass to engineers/' 

 another interesting proof of the instinct so abundantly 

 possessed by these little creatures. Compare this rational 

 fear and wise precaution with the feelings excited by the 

 appearance of this Moth in Poland : the account is taken 

 from the " Journal of a Naturalist:" " The insect is 

 called the ' Death's-head Phantom/ the c Wandering 

 Death-bird/ etc. ; the markings on its back represent to 

 these fertile imaginations the head of a perfect skeleton, 

 with limb-bones crossed beneath : its cry becomes the 

 voice of anguish, the moaning of a child, the signal of 

 grief ; it is regarded not as the creation of a benevolent 

 Being, but the device of evil spirits (spirits enemies to 

 man), and fabricated in the dark ; the very shining of its 

 eyes is thought to represent the fiery element whence it is 

 supposed to have proceeded. Flying into their rooms in 

 the evening, it at times extinguishes the light, foretelling 

 war, pestilence, hunger, and death, to man and beast." 



