356 ARTICULATA. INSECTA. 



They generally pass this state under ground, but a 

 few are enclosed in a cocoon. 



The larger species belonging to the genus Sphinx 

 are often beautifully, though somewhat soberly, co- 

 loured, the tints being softened and blended into 

 each other. In their manners they very much re- 

 semble the Humming-birds, poising themselves on 

 the wing in front of a tubular flower, and probing 

 it with their long sucker, while their wings, visible 

 only like a dim cloud on each side from the rapidity 

 of their vibration, make a loud ringing hum. Thus 

 they go from flower to flower, if undisturbed, visit- 

 ing many in succession ; but, if alarmed, they are 

 gone like a thought. The largest European species 

 is the Death's-head, (Acherontia Atropos,*) marked 

 with yellow and various shades of grey, with a spot, 

 having a rude resemblance to a skull, on the thorax. 

 It measures more than five inches in extent. This 

 fine Insect has been the subject of an absurd super- 

 stitious dread, partly from its ominous badge, and 

 partly because it has the faculty of producing a shrill 

 creak, like the cry of a mouse. How this sound is 

 uttered is still a matter of much dispute. 



Some genera, composed for the most part of small 

 species, have wings almost destitute of scales, and 

 therefore transparent. From this circumstance, from 

 their form, and from the arrangement of their co- 

 lours, they often bear so close a resemblance to cer- 

 tain Hymenopterous flies, as scarcely to be identi- 



* 'A;i<wv, Acheron., a fabled river in Hell ; and Atropot, one of the 

 Parcee. 



