44 MOTHS 



PLATE XXIV 

 THE BEE HAWK (2) 



There are really two "bee hawks," which you 

 can recognise at once by their transparent wings. 

 And as one of them has a narrow black border 

 to its wings, while the other has a broad one, 

 they are called the Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk, 

 and the Broad-bordered Bee Hawk. And really 

 they do look more like very big bumble-bees than 

 moths. They fly by day, like the "humming-bird 

 hawk," and you may sometimes see them hovering 

 in front of rhododendron blossoms on a bright 

 sunny day in May, and darting away at the 

 slightest alarm with almost the speed of light. 

 But they are not very common, and in many 

 parts of the country they are never seen at all. 



The caterpillar of the "broad-bordered bee 

 hawk " feeds upon honeysuckle, and that of the 

 " narrow-bordered bee hawk " upon field scabious 

 — that common low plant which looks so much 

 like a rather small thistle. They are both green 

 in colour, dotted with yellowish-white, and with 

 a brown horn at the end of the body. When 

 they have finished growing they spin little silken 

 webs on the surface of the ground, and turn to 

 chrysalids inside them. 



