Chap. XII.] 



MOTHS. 



427 



the sweet night-blowing moon-flower ; and, when dark- 

 ness gathers around, we can hear, though hardly distin- 

 guish amid the gloom, the humming of the powerful 

 wings of innumerable hawk moths, which hover with 

 their long proboscides inserted into the starry petals of 

 the periwinkle. 



Conspicuous amidst these nocturnal moths is the 

 richly-coloured Acherontia Satanas, one of the Singha- 

 lese representatives of our Death's-head moth, which 

 utters a sharp and stridulous cry when seized. This 

 sound has been conjectured to be produced by the friction 

 of its thorax against the abdomen ; — Eeaumur believed 

 it to be caused by the rubbing of the palpi against the 

 tongue. I have never been able to observe either mo- 

 tion, and Mr. E. L. Layard is of opinion that the sound 

 is emitted from two apertures concealed by tufts of wiry 

 bristles thrown out from each side of the inferior portion 

 of the thorax. 1 



Moths. — Among the strictly nocturnal Lepidoptera 

 are some gigantic species. Of these the cinnamon- 

 eating Atlas, often attains the dimensions of nearly a 

 foot in the stretch of its superior wings. It is very com- 

 mon in the gardens about Colombo, and its size, and 

 the transparent talc-like spots in its wings, cannot fail 

 to strike even the most careless saunterer. But little 

 inferior to it in size is the famed Tusseh silk moth 2 , 

 which feeds on the country almond (Terminalia 

 catappa) and the palma Christi or Castor-oil plant ; it 



1 There is another variety of the night, attracted by the lights ; but 



same moth in Ceylon which closely I have not found its larvae, although 



resembles it in its markings, but in that of the other species is com- 



which I have never detected the ut- mon on several widely different 



tering of this curious cry. It is plants. 



smaller than the A. Satanas, and, 2 Anthercea mylitta, Drury. 

 like it, often enters dwellings at 



