418 
THE HUMMING-BIRD MOTH. 
tlie moth, has been given to it because the caterpillar is known to feed on the common held 
convolvulus or bindweed, and it is sometimes known by the title of Convolvulus or Bindweed 
Hawk -moth. The caterpillar is mostly green, spotted and splashed with black and brown, 
and having a row of oblique stripes on each side. Generally the stripes are yellow, and 
edged with black, but they are sometimes wholly of the bolder color, while the entire 
caterpillar sometimes assumes a brownish hue. Upon the end of the tail there is a sharp 
curved horn, quite harmless, and whose use is at present unknown. The color of the wings 
is mostly wood-brown, checkered with ash, gray, and white, and the abdomen is ringed with 
broad bands of rose-color and narrow stripes of black, while down its centre runs a broad 
streak of gray. 
OLEANDER HAWK MOTH. Sphinx nerii. With caterpillar and larva. 
Of several other fine insects belonging to this genus, we mention the Privet Hawk-moth 
(Sphinx ligustri), and the Pike Hawk-Moth (Sphinx pinastri). The latter has been chosen 
for an illustration on account of the nice pattern with which the caterpillar is inscribed. (See 
page 417.) 
The beautiful Oleander Hawk-moth, which is here represented of the natural size, 
belongs to another genus, in which the caterpillar has the power of prolonging or withdrawing 
the head and neck like the proboscis of an elephant, a faculty which has earned for another 
insect the name of elephant hawk-moth. 
Our next illustrated example is the Hummin g-bird Moth. Although not gifted with 
the brilliant hues which decorate so many of the Hawk-moths, it is a more interesting creature 
