MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 237 
enemies, some of which this ferocious attitude may deter 
from attacking it. Mr. Bingley informs us that the giant 
earwig (Forficula gigantea, ¥.), a rare species that his re- 
searches have added to the catalogue of British insects, 
turns up over its head, in asimilar manner, its abdomen, 
which being armed at the end with a large forceps must 
give it an appearance still more alarming?. 
The caterpillars ofsome hawk-moths (Sphinx, L.), par- 
ticularly that which feeds upon the privet, when they re- 
pose, holding strongly with their prolegs the branch on 
which they are standing, rear the anterior part of their 
body so as to form nearly a right angle with the posterior ; 
and in this position it will remain perfectly tranquil,— 
thus eluding the notice of its enemies, or alarming them, 
—perhaps for hours. Reaumur relates that a gardener in 
the employment of the celebrated Jussieu used to be quite 
disconcerted by the self-sufiicient air of these animals, 
saying they must be very proud, for he had never seen 
any other caterpillars hold their head so high’, From 
this attitude, which precisely resembles that which sculp- 
tors have assigned to the fabulous monster called by that 
name, the term Sphinx has been used to designate this 
genus of insects.—The caterpillar of a moth (Bombyx 
camelina, ¥'.) noticed by the author just quoted, whenever 
it rests from feeding, turns its head over its back, then be- 
come concave, at the same time elevating its tail, the ex- 
tremity of which remains in a horizontal position, with 
two shorts horns like ears behind it. Thus the six ante- 
rior legs are in the air, and the whole animal looks like 
a quadruped in miniature; the tail being its head—the 
2 Prate Il. Fic. 7. Linn. Trans. x. 404— b Reaum. ii. 253. 
