134 death’s-head hawk-moth. 
brown, or blackish, powdered with white, and 
marked with several waved transverse stripes of 
deep black, and others of rust-red, the latter colour 
forming a series of dashes on the nervures at the 
hinder margin of the wings. Near the centre of 
each wdng there is a small round whitish spot. 
The secondary wings are deep yellow or ochreous, 
with two dark bands nearly parallel with the hinder 
margin and at some distance from it. The head 
and thorax are nearly of 'the same colour as the 
dark portion of the upper mngs ; the thorax bearing 
on its surface a large grey or yellowish spot, not 
unaptly representing a front view of a human skull 
or “ Death’s Head.” The abdomen is blackish, 
bluish-ash down the back, with yellow transverse 
spots on the sides of the segments. The antennm 
are whitish at the tip, and the tarsi ringed with 
white. 
The caterpillar, which is sometimes five inches 
in length, is of a fine yellow, with seven oblique 
green bands on each side and a longitudinal series 
of blue spots on the back, which besides is spotted 
with black and granulated. It is generally found 
on the potato and common jasmine, but like^vise 
feeds on a variety of other plants of very dissimilar 
qualities. The insect w'as formerly very scarce in 
this country, but since the cultivation of the potato 
became general, it has increased considerably. The 
caterpillar, however, occurs much more frequently 
than the moth, and as it very often dies before 
completing its transformations, indigenous sped- 
