133 
DEATH’S-HEAD HAWK-MOTH. 
AeheroyUia Atropos. 
PLATE V. 
Sphinx Atropos, Linn. ; Donomn, ix. PI. 289, 290.— Jasmine 
Hawk-moth, Wilies, PI. 19. — Death’s Head, Harris.— 
Aoherontia Atropos, Ocksen. — Bee-Tiger Moth, Curtis, iv. 
PI. 147 i Stephens. , 
The shortness of the proboscis and antennae, the 
latter terminating in a kind of hook supporting a 
long hairy seta, and the entire margin of the wings 
without indentation or sinuosity, suffice to distin- 
guish Aoherontia from the genera with which it 
has long been associated. Other subordinate dis- 
tinctions are to be found in several peculiarities 
of structure, and the caterpillar, besides presenting 
some other differences in character and aspect, has 
the caudal horn thickly tuherculated. The only 
British species is the striking and well known 
insect above referred to. The expansion of the 
wings varies from four to five inches, and females 
have occasionally been found not much short of six 
inches in extent : it must therefore he considered 
not only as the largest of om Indigenous lepidoptera, 
but with one exception, the Peacock-moth f Sa- 
turnia Pavonia major J, the largest insect inhabiting 
Europe. The surface of the primary wings is daik- 
