84 



Observations on the various Insects 



and feet, it has been separated from them. It belongs to the 

 Order Coleoptera, the Family Chrysomelid^e, the Genus 

 Macrocnema,* and appears to be the Linnaean species f 



17. M. exoleta : fig. 33; 34, the natural size. It is oval, con- 

 vex, shining and ochreous : the head is black, with prominent 

 eyes, 2 long clavate 10-jointed horns, 2 basal joints elongated, 

 3rd a little shorter, the extremity dusky : thorax punctured, deep 

 ochreous^ transverse, slightly narrowed before, sides rounded; 

 scutel minute : elytra pale ochreous, the suture pitchy; there are 

 8 faintly-punctured striae on each, and a short one on either side 

 of the scutel ; wings ample : underside pitchy : legs dark ochre ; 

 hinder thighs very thick and pitchy ; the shanks rather short, the 

 internal angle forming a curved lobe at the apex, which is cut off 

 obliquely ; feet 4-jointed, 3rd joint bilobed ; hinder very long and 

 inserted on the inside of the shank, basal joint as long as the 

 others united : the apex furnished with 2 claws. Length 1 line. 



Sphinx Atropos, the Death's-head, or Bee Tiger-moth. 



Potato-leaves do not seem very palatable to caterpillars, for 

 with the exception of two green-striped ones and those of the 

 Death's-head Sphinx, I do not know of any which feed upon 

 them. The noble larva of this moth is occasionally abundant in 

 potato-grounds, sufficiently so lately to induce the peasants in 

 Kent to collect and give them to their poultry, yet twenty years 

 back they were far from common, since British specimens of the 

 moth were so much sought after by naturalists, that half-a-guinea 

 was willingly paid for a fine native example. The unusual 

 abundance both of the caterpillars and moths in 1846, was owing, 

 it is presumed, to the high temperature in June and September, 

 and it is not a little surprising that they should have escaped 

 being included in the Calendar with the other insects accused of 

 destroying the potato-crops ; more especially as the moth bears a 

 very bad character : even its name of " Atropos " is intended to 

 imply its awful errand, as well as the familiar ones of Death's- 

 head, Tete de Mort, and Todtenkopf, which it bears in this 

 country, in France and Germany, appellations derived from the 

 image impressed upon its back ; so that when Atropos intrudes 

 itself into a dwelling amongst the rural inhabitants of the Con- 

 tinent, it causes no little consternation, since it is considered the 

 messenger of pestilence and famine, if not of death. It is un- 

 doubtedly to be dreaded by bees, for it has the audacity to enter 

 their hives and lap up the honey. It is from this propensity it 

 has received the English name of " Bee tiger-moth/' and it is 



* Curtis's Brit. Ent., fol. and pi. 486. 



f Fauna Suecica, No. 541, and Curtis's Guide, Genus 428, No. 10. 



