TEE HAWK MOTHS. 



and broad wings ; the antennae are stout, and thickened gradually before the extremity, which ends 



in a slender hook. The South American species of Castnia are large Moths, measuring from two to 



six inches across the wings, and in many cases 



the fore wings are dark, and the hind wings 



banded with white, and spotted towards the 



borders with red. But they vary considerably, 



both in form and colour. Some few species 



of the family are transparent; and in the 



Australian genus Synemon the antennae are 



clubbed, and the Moths, which expand about 



an inch and a half across the wings, might 



easily be mistaken for Hesperiidce, 



We now come to the great family of 



Sphingidce, or Hawk Moths, which may be 



known by their large head, prominent eyes, 



stout antennge, more or less thickened in the 



middle, and often serrated, but not pectinated, 



in the males, and their long, narrow, pointed 



wings. The caterpillars ai'e smooth, often green, with, transverse 



stripes on the sides, and there is nearly always a horn on the back of 



the last segment but one. They change to pupse either on the surface 



of the ground or in a cell under ground, which they form for the 



purpose. Every one is familiar with the Humming Bird Hawk 



Moth (Macroglossa stellataruni), which may often be seen buzzing 



over the flowers in our gardens, and rifling them of their sweets 



by means of its long proboscis, without ever resting. It is not 



uncommonly mistaken for a real Humming Bird, and some of the allied South American species. 



actually resemble Humming 

 Birds so closely in flight that 

 they cannot be distinguished 

 from them on the wing ; and 

 during his travels on the 

 Amazons Mr. Bates often shot 

 one of these Moths by mistake 

 for a Humming Bird. Our 

 common species has brown 

 fore wings, and reddish tawny 

 hind wings, and the abdomen 

 is tufted at the extremity. 

 Most of the foreign species 

 are very similarly coloured. 



The Bee Hawk Moths. 

 (Sesia fuciformis and bombyli- 

 formis) are of about the same 

 size and shape as the Hum- 

 ming Bird Hawk Moth ; but 

 their bodies are yellow, with 

 a reddish-brown belt, and 

 downy, and the wings are 



OLEANDER HAWK MOTH. (Cterocampa nerii.) transparent, with brown or 



reddish-brown borders. They 



are not uncommonly seen flying over flowers in woods in spring, but their flight is much less rapid 

 than that of M. stettatarum. There is a beautiful Continental Hawk Moth about the same size as. 



