652 Queries and Ansioers. 



}'ears before any idea was entertained of naming them ; and hence one is 

 named here and there without any reference to arrangement, and without the 

 slightest injury to picturesque effect. It is impossible to walk along this belt 

 of trees without being convinced that the names form a great source of interest 

 to the spectators. 



With respect to the shrubs that are arranged in alphabetical order, nothing 

 can be worse ; but they do not occupy a thousandth part of the surface of the 

 gardens, and, as they will doubtless be removed, they ought not to be con- 

 sidered as a specimen of general arrangement. Had our correspondent seen 

 Kensington Gardens before he produced his remarks, we are persuaded they 

 would have been very different. 



With respect to ruins, we think they ought to be very rarely introduced ; but 

 we are not so exclusive as to say that they are in no case admissible. On 

 the contrary, there are situations, such as where a stream is led along the side 

 of a slope for the sake of obtaining a waterfall, where a waterfall issuing from 

 a ruined aqueduct or the remains of a mill-course is more natural, if the ex- 

 pression may be used, than any piece of rockwork that can be made. Such, 

 at least, is our opinion. We shall, however, be glad to hear all that our cor- 

 respondent has to say against ruins, — Cond. 



Art. IV. Queries and Answers. 



A CURIOUS Caterpillar. — I forward you a very large curious caterpillar, which 

 was found feeding on a geranium. Its excrement is as large as that of a 

 rabbit. When lying quiet its head looks broad and large, and, if touched, it 

 puts out a very long trunk or snout, like a pig's. — James Barnes. Bicton 

 Gardens, Sept. 21. 1843. 



[We sent the caterpillar to Mr. Westwood, who returned us the following 

 observations on it.] 



Mr. Barnes's caterpillar is that of the common elephant hawk moth (Sphlnr, 

 or Choerocampa, Elpenor), figured by Mr. Humphreys, in his beautiful plates 

 of the Enghsh moths (vol. i. plate 5. fig. 7.), from a specimen " taken at 

 Bayswater, in the possession of Miss A. Loudon ; " together with the cater- 

 pillar (fig. 8.), which, by the by, has the tail represented much too small, 

 and the spottings of the body too faint. The curious property mentioned by 

 Mr. Barnes, of stretching out the fore segments of the body into a long neck, 

 is well known, and has led to the application of elephant moths to these 

 insects. The French call them cochonnees ; and, from this circumstance, M. 

 Duponchel has made them into a separate genus with the name Choerocampa, 

 from two Greek words, signifying a hog and caterpillar ; that is to say, a 

 caterpillar with a snout like that of a hog. 



I have not before heard of this insect feeding on geraniums. Its ordinary 

 food is the ladies' bedstraw, willow herb, and vine ; but other instances of a 

 similar change of food have been noticed, as in the case of the swallow-tailed 

 moth v/hich you sent me a little time since (see p. 460.) ; whilst a friend of 

 mine has lately reared a specimen of the carpet moth (Euthalia impluviata) 

 from a caterpillar which also fed upon the geranium, its ordinary food being 

 the birch and hazel. 



Mr. Barnes's specimen had formed for itself with the bits of grass, &c., with 

 which he had packed it in the box, an oval bed, within which it was coiled 

 lip, to undergo its chrysalis state ; but I fear it has got injured during its 

 passage through the post-ofhce and letter-carrier's hands. — Jno. O. Westwood. 

 Grove Cottage, Grove Road, Hamvtersmith, Sept. 23. 1843. 



