THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



craccce) and bitter vetch ( Orobus tuber osus), 

 and I believe also on bird's-foot trefoil 

 (Lotus corniculatus) and vetchling (Lathyrus). 



There are also three other butterfly 

 caterpillars to be looked out for in September, 

 although if you find any of them it will be 

 an event worth recording. The species I 

 allude to are Pieris daplidice, Nemeobius 

 lucina and Hesperia paniscus. The first of 

 these — the Bath White — feeds on the 

 Continent on mignonette; in colour it is 

 bluish grey with four yellow stripes. It 

 should be looked for in localities where 

 the imago has been known to occur. The 

 larva of the Duke of Burgundy butterfly is 

 rather ornisciform in shape ; dingy white in 

 colour, with pale wainscoat brown head, 

 under surface pale olive green ; dorsal line 

 dark olive green ; spiracles black. It feeds 

 on primrose. The larva of the Chequered 

 skipper I have never had the good fortune 

 to meet with, but Duponchel describes it as 

 brown with two yellow stripes down the 

 back ; the head is black and the second 

 segment bordered with yellow. It feeds on 

 the broad leaved plantain ( Plantago major) . 

 The perfect insect seems to be most abun- 

 dant at Oundle and Kettering in Northamp- 

 tonshire, and probably woods in the 

 neighbourhood of those places would be the 

 best situations in which to look for the 

 caterpillar. 



NOCTURNI LARVAE FOR SEPTEMBER. 



September is such a grand month for 

 caterpillars that I shall devote this paper 

 almost entirely to brief descriptions of the 

 rarer kinds. The rough skinned green 

 larva of the Poplar Hawk-moth ( Smerinthus 

 populi) with yellow horn, reddish beneath, 

 may be found now on poplars, laurels and 

 iaurustinus, and the dull yellowish green 

 larva of the Line Hawk-moth ( Smerinthus 

 lilies) feeds on lime and elm trees in 

 August and September. Its horn is blue 

 above and yellow beneath. Ocellatus has 

 also a blue horn, but is easily distinguished 



from lilies, for the latter has a purple 

 chitinous plate underneath the horn, which 

 the former has not ; moreover Tilice is 

 spotted with yellow, and has seven oblique 

 yellowish stripes on each side, Ocellatus is 

 spotted with white, and has white stripes 

 on the sides. 



I have never had the pleasure of seeing 

 the caterpillar of the Spurge Hawk moth 

 (Deilephila euphorbia), I do not know 

 whether any of my readers have been more 

 fortunate. It is described as " smooth and 

 black with innumerable whitish dots ; there 

 are also eleven large spots of the same 

 colour arrayed in a row on each side of the 

 back, and beneath these are as many spots 

 of the same size and of a bright coral red 

 colour ; the head is of the same coral red 

 colour, and a line of the same colour runs 

 all along the back from the head to the 

 horn ; the horn is red at the base and black 

 at the tip." — Newman, quoted from the 

 Entomological Magazine. On the continent it 

 is abundant. A graphic description of its 

 habits is given in Stainton's Manual, vol. i, 

 page 92, from which I should like to quote 

 for the benefit of such beginners who do 

 possess that invaluable work, but space 

 forbids. 



On the sea-coast near Deal the larvae of 

 Deilephila Galii (Bedstraw Hawk-moth) are 

 feeding on the Ladies' bedstraw, growing on 

 the sand hills. They are variable in colour, 

 some are green, some black and some brown, 

 with a pale dorsal line and a row of yellow 

 spots, ten on each side ; the horn is red. 



Although I have never been so fortunate 

 as to find the beautiful and rare caterpillar 

 of the Oleander Hawk-moth ( Chcerocampa 

 Nerii ) myself, I was shewn one some years 

 ago by a Naturalist who informed me he 

 obtained it from near London. According 

 to the description I have noted down it was 

 orange yellow in colour, with a large round 

 blue spot on each side of the third segment, 

 and a straight whitish band went from each 



