BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS IN AUTUMN 65 



know it is there. None of our English birds seem to attack 

 these large hawk moth larvae when full grown ; but the 

 mimicry may none the less be of use to them in their earlier 

 stages of growth. 



The pattern and colour of these species of hawk moth aim 

 at concealing the caterpillar from view ; but the markings of 

 elephant hawk caterpillar seem designed to make it look 

 terrifying. The large elephant hawk feeds chiefly on the 

 common purple willowherb which flowers in late summer by 

 lakes and streams, and in flowing ditches ; and it reaches its 

 full growth in September, and is then three inches long. 

 It is mottled greyish-black in general colour ; but the 

 peculiar feature is the pair of large eyelike spots on the fifth 

 and sixth segments, which are greatly swollen. The first 

 four segments are small and slender, and are retracted against 

 the fifth segment when the creature is at rest. The swollen 

 segments then look like a large head, and the spots give an 

 extraordinarily vivid imitation of two glaring eyes. It is 

 hardly surprising that country folk who know nothing of 

 the life-history of the creature regard it with terror, and think 

 themselves courageous when they face it armed with a spade. 

 As it does not aim at concealment it does not need to be of 

 the same colour as the leaves of its food-plant ; and it is 

 therefore nearly black, so that the effect of the glaring eye is 

 intenser. This dark colour and the thin trunklike segments 

 in front of the pretended head have given it its English name 

 of elephant hawk. 



A better known object of terror is the death's-head hawk 

 moth, and to a less extent its caterpillar, both of which are 

 often found in potato-fields when the crop is dug in autumn. 

 The death's-head is irregular in its habits, sometimes passing 

 the winter as a chrysalis, and sometimes hibernating in the 

 perfect state. Strange and sinister-looking as is the skull 



