MOTHS. 55! 
lime-tree, It is a green caterpillar, thick bodied, covered with little protu- 
berances, aud upon each side are some whitish streaks edged with red or 
yellow. Just at the end of the tail there is a short knobby protuberance, 
and the torepart of the body is rather narrow. When the larva has com- 
pleted its time of feeding, it descends to the ground, and buries itself about 
eight inches deep in the earth, whence the chrysaiis may be extracted by the 
help of atrowel. Besides the lime, the elm and birch are favoured residences 
of this insect. 
THE splendid insect appropriately named the DEATH’S-HEAD MOTH is 
tolerably common in our island, though, from its natural habits, and the in- 
stinct of concealment with which the caterpillar is endowed, it is not so 
frequently seen as many rarer insects. Owing to the remarkably faithful 
delineation of a skull and bones upon the back of the thorax, the insect is 
often an object of great terror to the illiterate, and has more than once 
thrown a whole province into consternation, the popular idea being that it 
was some infra-natural being that was sent upon the earth as a messenger of 
pestilence and woe, if not indeed the shape assumed by some witch residing 
in the neighbourhood. 
The caterpillar of this moth is enormously large, sometimes measuring 
five inches in length, and being very stoutly maue. It feeds on various 
plants, the jessamine and potato being its favourites, and may be best found 
by traversing potato-grounds in the night, and directing the light of a 
bull’s-eye lantern among the leaves. It can be readily kept and bred, 
but requires some careful tending; and it must be remembered that it will 
only eat the particular food to which it has been accustomed, and if bred 
among the potato will refuse 
the jessamine leaf, and wice 
versé. When the caterpillar is 
about to change into its chrysa- 
lis state it.should be placed ina 
vessel containing seven or eight 
inches of earth, which should be 
kept moderately damp by means 
of a moist sponge or wet piece 
of moss laid on the top. If this 
precaution be not taken,: the 
_ Shell of the chrysalis is apt to 
become so hard that the moth 
is unable to break its way out, 
and perishes in the shell. I . 
have several specimens where HUMMING-BIRD MOTH.-- (Macroglossa 
the moth has thus perished. : stellatarum. ) 
One of the most curious 
points in the historv of the Death’s-head Moth is its power of producing a 
sound. a faculty which is truly remarkable among the Lepidoptera. The 
noise is something like the grating, squeaking cry of the field-cricket, but not 
nearly so loud. 
ALTHOUGH not gifted with the brilliant hues which decorate so many of the 
Hawk-moths. the HUMMING-BIRD MOTH is a more interesting creature than 
many an insect which can boast of treble its dimensions and dazzling richness 
of colour. This insect may be readily known by its very long proboscis, the 
tufts at the end of the abdomen, and the peculiar flight, which so exactly 
resembles that of the humming-bird, that persons accustomed to those 
feacnered gems have often been deceived into the idea that England 
actually possesses a true humming-bird. Owing to its arrowy flight and the 
