IOO 
TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 
the summer, and when full grown begins to descend to the 
ground at the base of the tree, whose leaves it has partly 
consumed. Towards the end of July, or the commencement of 
August, it hides up in the earth, where it forms a comfortable 
cocoon, and becomes metamorphosed into a chrysalis, living, 
moreover, in that condition all through the winter, and until 
the month of June in the next year. It then bursts forth as a 
moth. The anatomy of this sphinx, and the details of its meta- 
morphoses have already been described. The other sphinx has a 
green or brown larva, marked with seven oblique side streaks, 
and the spiracles or air openings are black in white rings. It 
lives on the small bindweed, and on the wild balsam. The moth 
is rather larger than that of the privet sphinx, and has a very 
long trunk. 
Perhaps the Deilephilce are the prettiest sphinges. Their 
trunk is only half as long as their body, which has a long 
and conical abdomen. These insects are rather common, and 
their caterpillars are really very pretty, on account of the 
variety of their colours, and the freshness of their tints. The 
Euphorbia sphinx is one of them, and is interesting, because 
there are two broods of it every year; one appearing in June 
and the other in September. Its caterpillars live upon the 
pretty green leaves of the Euphorbia , whose stems, when broken, 
exude a milky sap. 
Before these larvae attain their full growth they may be seen 
in abundance on the same plant, but as they are gross feeders, 
they soon have to separate, in order to exist. Their bodies are 
curiously ornamented, being black in colour, and they have 
three long lines of a carmine tint upon them, one on the 
back, and the others above the line of the legs ; besides these 
there are some very close points and dots of yellow arranged 
on each segment, like coronets of pearls, and finally there are 
two rows on each flank of rounded spots, which are sometimes 
yellow, or even red or white and red in colour. Sometimes, 
with all this elaborate colouring, the foundation is a lively 
green instead of black. They become full grown towards the 
end of July, and they then hide themselves in the ground, 
after having formed a hole, and are transformed ; but they do 
