., BRITISH MOTHS 



T!.c caterpillar, ^vliicl. feeds on the privet, lilac, elder, ash, &c., is green, with the caudal horn black above 

 and yellow beneath, and seven oblique stripes on the sides of purple and white ; on each side of the head is a 

 strong black mark, and the spiracles arc orange. 



The young caterpillars, when first hatched, have the tails remarkably long, and the bodies very rugose, but 

 they become smooth at the final moulting. By the end of August or the middle of September they are full- 

 grown, and become of a dirty-red colour, when they descend into the earth, where they change into a dark brown 

 chrysalis, with the extremity slightly bifid, and the tongue-case straight. The motli appears in the following 

 June and July. Sometimes, however, the insect will remain two and even three years in the chrysalis state, and 

 then become winged as perfectly as if it had appeared at the ordinary period. 



This fine species is widely distributed throughout England, and is by no means of unconinion occurrence, the 

 caterpillars being easily detected when feeding upon fruit hedges, by the large pellets of excrement observed on 

 the ground. It is much rarer in Scotland. 



This insect has afl'orded Jlr. G. Newport the materials for one of the most celebrated anatomical Memoirs 

 which has ever been published upon the internal structure of the annulose animals. 



SPECIES 3.— SPHINX PINASTRI. THE PINE HAWK-MOTH. 



Plate iii. fig. 7—9. 



Synokymks Sphin-v Pitiasiri, Linn.xus ; Donovan 9, pi. '-96 ; 



H.iwortli ; Sti'phcns ; Curtis ; AVood, Ind. Etitom., lab. 4. fij;. 13; 

 Duncan, Brit. Jlotlis, plate 7, fig. 1 ; Sepp. Vol. 1, tab. 5 ; Hiibncr, 



tab. 13, f. C7; Paraciy F. I. G. 82, 22. Drury, Ins. 1, pi. 27 

 fig. 2. 



Jlyloecus PiitastTt, ITulmcr (Verz. bck. Sclim.). 



This very rare species varies from three to three and a h.ilf inches in the expansion of its fore wings, which 

 are of an ashy colour, slightly undulated with darker shades, and marked in the middle of the disc with three 

 unequal-sized black lines, another oblique dusky lino extending from the apex ; tlie hinder wings are pale ashy at 

 the base, becoming of a browner hue along the outer margin, the fringe being grey, alternately clouded with 

 dusky ; the thorax is grey, with a broad dark lateral band on each side, followed by a white line ; the abdomen 

 is banded with black and white, interrupted in the middle by a broad ashy longitudinal stripe, along the middle 

 of which runs a dark line. 



The catei-pillar is entirely yellow in its first skin ; in the second, green with yellow stripes ; in the third, 

 deeper green, with three longitudinal lemon-yellow lines on each side ; and finally of a rich green, with a ferruginous 

 dorsal line, and a lateral yellow one — the head ochraceous in front, with brown lines ; the first segment of the 

 body yellow, spotted with black ; and the caudal horn, which at first was straight, becomes curved and black. 

 The clurysalis is dark brown, changing to maroon ; the tongue-sheath is short. The insect passes this state in 

 the ground, or under moss, through the winter. 



This species is attached (as its n.ame implies) to the pine and pineaster, and is consequently found in the great 

 forests in Germany, and other parts of Continental Europe, in considerable numbers, whereas in this country, where 

 the growth of that tree is comparatively rare, the insect is of the greatest rarity — the only English localities being 

 Colney Hatch wood and the neighbourhood of Esher. Other specimens, however, are stated by Mr. Stephens 

 to have been taken in llivclstono wood, near Edinburgh, by Mr. Wilson and Dr. Leach : but this is denied by Mr. 

 Duncan, whose opportunities for obtaining correct information lead us to adopt his statement. 



