THE ZYG^ftlVJE. 



57 



CATERPILLAR OF DEATH'S HEAD HAWK MOTH. 



inches across the wings, which are pale brown, varied with darker brown and black ; the hind wings 



are pale pink, crossed by three black bands. The green caterpillar, with white and lilac streaks on 



the sides, and a black horn on 



the back, feeds on privet and 



Jilac, and the position which ^g&jfl 



it assumes when at rest 



suggested that of the mytho- 



logical Sphinx to the old 



naturalists, who applied this 



name to the insect. 



The small family of the 



jEgeriidoe, or Clear-wings, con- 



tains a few Moths with trans- 



parent wings, the caterpillars 



of which feed on the stems of 



trees or plants. In the first 



genus (Sphecia) the body is 



stout, and not tufted ; S. 



apiformis, which may often be 



found sitting on the trunks 



of poplars in early summer, 



looks very much like a large 



Wasp, being black and 



yellow, and of about the same 



size. Another species (S. bem- 



beciformis) feeds on osiers. 



The species of the other genus (Trochilium) are much smaller insects, with long slender bodies, tufted 



at the extremity. The commonest species, the Currant Clear-wing (T. tipuliformis), which measures 



about three-quarters of an inch across the wings, has transparent wings, with black borders slightly 



vailed with orange, three yellowish rings on the abdomen, and a black tuft at the extremity. & It is 



common and sometimes in- 

 jurious in gardens, where its 

 caterpillars live in the shoots 

 of the currant, but the Moth 

 is very liable to be mistaken 

 for some kind of fly. 



The family Zygcenidce con- 

 tains the Green Foresters and 

 the Burnets. The former have 

 thick and obtuse, or slender, 

 antemife, sometimes slightly 

 pectinated; in the Burnets the 

 antennee are strongly thickened 

 before the tip. They are all 

 small insects, with rather long 

 fore wings and shorter hind 

 wings, and rather stout bodies : 

 they fly heavily and grega- 

 riously in meadows or waste 

 places by day. The Green 

 Foresters (Ino) have green 

 fore wings and brown hind 



DEATH'S HEAD HAWK MOTH. 



246 



wings ; the Burnets 



