affecting the Potato-crops, 



85 



supposed to gain admission by imitating the note of the Queen 

 bee,* and being so thickly clothed with velvet over a horny case, 

 it may laugh to scorn the stings of the bees. 



This handsome moth is certainly a remarkable creature — it is 

 so conspicuous from its size that no one can overlook it ; for it is 

 as big as a bat, the human skull depicted on its back is often very 

 perfect, and it can utter a cry something like the faint squeak of a 

 mouse, but more plaintive. The caterpillar rests like the classic 

 Sphinx of Egypt, hence that distinction has been assigned to it, 

 and it is very remarkable that an Egyptian mummy bears a great 

 resemblance to the brown horny chrysalis. 



It is not yet ascertained where the female moth lays her eggs : 

 they must be as large as mustard-seeds and cannot be deposited 

 upon the foliage of the potatoes by the autumn brood ; indeed it 

 has been ascertained that the females are then sterile. It is 

 therefore quite possible that the eggs are generally laid by the 

 earlier brood upon or under the potato-leaves. 



The caterpillars seem to have fed principally upon the leaves 

 of the jasmine formerly, but I am not aware that they are found 

 now upon any other plants in England than the potato, although 

 they will live upon the bitter-sweet, tomato, thorn-apple, spindle- 

 tree, elder, damason, and hemp. They come out to feed at night, 

 and grow until they are nearly as long and as thick as a lad's 

 middle finger, when they are of a yellow or greenish tint with 



7 oblique bands on each side forming acute angles on the back ; 

 these stripes are blue, lilac, and white: the head is horny and 

 furnished with strong jaws ; it has 6 pectoral feet like claws, 



8 fleshy abdominal feet and 2 similar anal ones, above which is a 

 rough curled tail, and on each side are 9 breathing pores called 

 spiracles. When full grown the caterpillar buries itself in the 

 earth, where, with a fluid from its mouth and by the action of its 

 head and body, it forms a smooth oval cell: having rested from 

 this labour, it draws off' its skin and then is wonderfully trans- 

 formed into a chrysalis or pupa enclosed in a horny shell of a 

 chestnut colour; the head blunt, the tail pointed, the eyes, pro- 

 boscis, and wings being defined, and the body composed of 

 several rings with breathing pores on each side, and if touched or 

 breathed upon it wriggles its body to and fro. The first brood 

 of caterpillars is thus transformed in July, and these produce 

 moths in September and October, whilst those that arrive at per- 

 fection in the autumn do not hatch until the following spring. 

 They were equally abundant in France in 1846 and there they 

 remained in pupae only 3 or 4 weeks. 



The moth belongs to the Order Lepidoptera, the Family 



* Reaumur, Hist. Nat. des Insectes, vol. ii. p. 289. 



