102 
TRANSFORMA TIONS OF INSECTS. 
of an acid and disagreeable smell, similar to that of the milk 
of the plant, only worse. When a larva, after rambling about, 
finds a fresh plant to his taste, he sets to at once upon the 
bottom leaves, merely raising his head from the ground, and 
devours all within his reach, before proceeding to climb the 
stem. These bottom leaves are, of course, very inferior, but 
were the large larvae, who are old enough to travel, to mount 
up to the top of the plant at once, and eat all the tender 
shoots, of course all the tiny individuals just out of their eggs 
would be starved.” 
Some very beautiful sphinges which belong to the genus 
CATERPILLAR OP' Chcerocampa nerii. 
Chcerocampa are occasionally found in England, but their home 
is on the shores of the Mediterranean sea, where their gigantic 
caterpillars revel upon the leaves of the delicate oleanders. 
In this country they have been found upon those plants and 
upon fuchsias and the epilobium, and they have their mouths 
especially adapted for biting the rather dense and thick leaves. 
The upper lip is very hard and is deeply notched, so that it can 
hold the leaf tightly, whilst the pair of strong denticulate jaws 
can cut pieces out of it without any difficulty. Sometimes the 
Oleander Sphinx wanders to the north, out of the region of the 
wild oleanders, and it has been taken in Paris, and even on the 
south coast of England. The caterpillar is green and some- 
times yellow, and has two large eye-shaped spots on the fourth 
segment, a longitudinal white streak on each side, and numerous 
