LKIIDOPTERA. 177 



while a later brood may remain in the pupa state 

 through the winter. I have not yet, therefore (even 

 in April), given up the hope of obtaining a mag- 

 nificent specimen of the giant Acherontia Atropos. 



I have more than once used the term giant in 

 reference to this insect, for the Death's-head Moth 

 is indeed of noble proportions, and by far the 

 largest of our native Lepidoptera. It owes both 

 its popular and scientific names to the singular 

 resemblance of the markings on the anterior part of 

 the body to a human skull — a peculiarity which 

 also gave rise to the superstitions connected with 

 its appearance, for this harmless insect has always 

 been considered a creature of ill omen. 



Linnaeus, who classed it with the Sphinx family, 

 following out his fanciful scheme of specific deno- 

 mination, named it Sphinx Atropos— Atropos 

 being, according to Hesiod, the Eate whose 

 special business it was to cut the thread of life, spun 

 and directed by her sisters, Clotho and Lachesis. 

 Modern naturalists, finding it necessary to 

 separate the species Atropos from the genus 

 Sphinx, though still retaining it in the Hawk-moth 

 family, have preserved the specific name con- 

 ferred by Linnaeus, and added a generic one of 

 corresponding character. This name, Acherontia, 



N 



