DEATH S HEAD SPHINX. 4,4 



" Another Sphinx, very vigorous and lively, 

 which often emitted the sound peculiar to its 

 species, was confined along with the same colony. 

 Its activity only served to render it sooner the 

 victim of their rage. Immediately on approaching 

 the nest, which, nevertheless, it seemed to have no 

 desire to enter, all the workers darted on it at once 

 with their stings, and harassed the creature so in- 

 cessantly as to compel it to retreat. The moth 

 defended itself only by the violent agitation of its 

 wings, but it could not evade the attacks of the 

 humble bees under the belly, where it seemed 

 most sensible of their weapons. At length, after 

 an hour of suffering, it perished under many 

 wounds. 



" I was unwilling to carry this cruel experiment 

 farther. Captivity, or some other circumstance, 

 evidently reduced tl>e insect to too great an infe- 

 riority to the humble bees. Yet, after the experi- 

 ment, it became still more difficult for mo to under- 

 stand how it could introduce itself into the hives of 

 common bees, whose stings are so much more 

 dangerous, as well as their numbers incomparably 

 greater. Had the light of a torch been an obstacle 

 to the Sphinx exercising its means of attack ? Possi- 

 bly the success of its enterprises on hives results 

 from the faculty of seeing during the night, like 

 other moths of the same genus. 



" Offering honey to tliese insects was equally 



