44 DEATH S HEAD SPHINX. 



fruitless. They remained during a -vvcek beside a 

 comb witliout touching it ; we unfolded the probo- 

 cis, and dipped it among honey in vain. This ex- 

 periment, though succeeding perfectly with day 

 butterflies, proved abortive with the Sphinx Atro- 

 pos. 



" Had I not obtained proofs of its avidity while 

 in the natural state, I might have entertained 

 doubts of the predilection for honey. Besides, the 

 facts above related are supported by my having 

 recently dissected a; large Sphinx taken in the 

 open air, and found the abdomen quite full of pure 

 honey, of the same taste and consistence as that of 

 the bees. The quantity would have filled a table- 

 spoon ; and what appeared very singular, was its 

 not being contained in any particular intestine, but 

 occupying the cavity usually reserved for air in the 

 body of these insects. All the vertical delicate 

 membranes dividing the abdomen into so many 

 compartments had disappeared, I cannot affirm 

 positively whether they had been ruptured by the 

 quantity of honey gorging the Sphinx, or by our- 

 selves ; but one thing is undoubted, that in others 

 of the Sphinx Atropos, opened by us, we have 

 always seen the receptacles entire, though empty." 



