The Life-History of the Lime Hawk-Moth 77 
surface as perfect as though it had not 
met with so much as a grain of sand to 
impede its progress. 
Small wonder that after such a resurrec- 
tion the hawk-moth appears greatly excited, 
walking or running over the rough ground 
until it reaches some elevated projection 
such as a tree-trunk, or anything up which 
it can climb sufficiently high to permit of 
the full development of its wings, which it 
has the power of retarding up to a certain 
point, generally long enough for the dis- 
covery of a convenient “pitch” away from 
the sharp eyes of the sparrows. 
The most beautiful of the genus is without 
doubt the Lime Hawk, the upper wings 
of all shades of olive-green making it one 
of the most difficult animals to depict in its 
proper colours. 
The larva of this beautiful moth is not 
common about London; and for anyone to 
attempt to gaze up into the branches of 
a tree in search of the creature is to 
court notice from every passer-by, as well 
as to be pestered with the most ridiculous 
questions. The entomologist knows the value of the adage, “It is the early riser who 
catches the worm.” 
With the exception that all the markings are more or less of a blue-green colour, the 
larva of this beautiful moth is identical in form with the Poplar and Eyed Hawk. On 
emergence the moth is most active, dragging its long body over the ground and up some 
convenient stem, where it soon fixes its hold, moving from side to side to make sure it is a 
firm one. A quantity of fluid is first ejected, the body drawn up and curved as in Fig. 5; 
the head and antenne are shaken out, the latter pressed to the side, with the points 
turned up. Now those minute wings, which look as though they had been—as 
they have—in a compressor, begin to swell out at the base, at the same time gradually 
rising, the outer margins falling over in the loose, flapping, sail-like manner (Fig. 6). 
The lower tip seems in a hurry to unfold first, and has almost done so in Fig. 7. 
The antenne are now turned and rest outside, being quickly followed by the straightening 
of the upper wing until both are fairly well developed and stand face to face (Fig. 8). 
They remain some time in this position, becoming perfectly parallel to each other, the 
upper wings drooping until the front margin or costa is level with that of the lower 
(Fig. 9). An hour after emergence both pairs of wings separate (Fig. 10), the upper 
ones being kept at an angle of about 30 degrees from the body, and displaying all the 
beautiful olive-green tints to the fullest advantage. 
Fig. 10. 
[Owing to the pressure on our space this month, the Editor regrets that the second and concluding 
part of Dr. Walter Kidd’s article, ‘‘Traces of Animal Habits,’ has unavoidably been held over. For the same 
reason it has been found impossible to find room for our usual ‘‘ Notes and Comments.’ 
