SEPTEMBER 211 



exactly matching the bark of a tree or a stone over- 

 grown with lichen. But when the moth expands its 

 wings there is a flash of livelier hues. On its back, just 

 at the junction of thorax and abdomen, are two bright 

 bosses ; the stout cone-shaped abdomen is of bright rose 

 colour, crossed by six transverse bands of black and 

 white. The proboscis is a remarkable organ, longer 

 when uncurled than the entire insect from head to tail. 

 It is kept closely coiled under the head until its owner 

 poises after the manner of the hawk-moths before 

 some large flower, such as a petunia, tobacco plant, or 

 gladiolus, when it shoots it forth to suck honey. It 

 darts quickly from plant to plant ; but is not shy of 

 being approached when hovering with humming wings 

 while it extracts the sweets. 



It has been generally believed that this moth seldom 

 or never breeds in the United Kingdom, and that those 

 which appear in this country from time to time are 

 immigrants from the Continent.^ If that be so, one 

 would expect them to be somewhat travel-stained, 

 whereas those that I have seen were glossy and fresh. 



Probably it breeds with us more frequently than is 

 supposed; for the caterpillar, though measuring five 

 inches in length when full grown, proportionately 

 stout and conspicuously coloured, may easily escape 

 detection, owing to its habit of Uving underground 

 during daylight and issuing forth only at night to 

 feed — mainly on convolvulus leaves. It varies in 

 colour from apple-green to dark brown (I write this 



' The years most notable for the appearance of convolvulus hawks 

 in Britain have been 1846, 1856, 1859, 1875, 1887 and 1917. 



