45^ SPHINX. 



while the reft of the body like the celebrated fphinx 

 {lands in an ere6l pofture : The cod which they form, 

 previous to their metamorphofis, and into which the a- 

 nimal enters, is conftructed below ground of earth and 

 grains of corn, interwoven with threads of their own ma- 

 nufacture : When inverted with the powers ot a winged 

 infccl, their voracity is diminifhed ; they fly heavily from 

 flower to flower, introducing the tongue into the ne£laria 

 for the liquor contained there. 



The fphinx atropos is the moft renaarkable animal of 

 Ithis genus ; the upper wings are of a blackilh brown, 

 waved irregularly above aad below, with bands of a 

 lighter hue ; the under wings and abdomen, are of a fine 

 yellow, variegated with tranfverfe bands of black *. The 

 worm from which this inledt proceeds is large, fmooth, 

 and green, terminating in a kind of horn at the extremi- 

 ty f. 



The mofl remarkable part of this animal is the repre- 

 fentatlon of a death'' s heady which is feen upon the upper 

 part of the thorax : This mournful pidlure is formed by 

 a large irregular gray patch, marked with two black 

 dots near the middle |. In the province of Brittany the 

 people were affl;6l. d during a certain feafon with an epi- 

 demic difordcr, which often proved mortal ; the inhabi- 

 tants were greatly alarmed by the unufual numbers of 

 thefe infefts, which the common people imagined came to 

 fcrcDode laeir dedrudion, by this portentous reprefenta- 

 tion upon their backs. The Royal Academy was con- 

 fulted, whether the fphinx, by its uncommon numberSj 

 might not be the caufe of this calamity, fo great was the 

 alarm which their appearance created §. 



* Fauna Swecica n. 809. f Rai Infe(5l:. p. 561, n, 62. 



J Reaumur, Tom. I. p. 29J, § Idem, ubi fu^ra. 



