SPHINX. 
456 
•while the reft of the body like the celebrated fphinx 
Hands in an ere£l pofture : The cod which they form, 
previous to their metamorpholis, and into which the a- 
nimal enters, is conilrucled below ground of earth and 
grains of corn, interwoven with threads of their own ma- 
nufacture : When inverted with the powers of a winged 
infe£t, their voracity is diminifhed ; they fly heavily from 
flower to flower, introducing the tongue into the necfaria 
for the liquor contained there. 
The fphinx atropos is the molt remarkable animal of 
this genus ; the upper wings are of a blackiih brown, 
waved irregularly above and below, with bands of a 
lighter hue ; the under wings and abdomen, are of a fine 
yellow, variegated with tranfvcrfe bands of black *. The 
worm from which this infect proceeds is large, fmooth, 
and green, terminating in a kind of horn at the extremi- 
ty f- 
The moft remarkable part of this animal is the repre- 
fentation of a death's head, which is feen upon the upper 
part of the thorax ; This mournful picture is formed by 
a large irregular gray patch, marked with two black 
dots near the middle J. In the province of Brittany the 
people were affii&c-d during a certain feafon with an epi- 
demic diforder, which often proved mortal ; the inhabi- 
tants were greatly alarmed by the unufuai numbers of 
tliefe infects, which the common people imagined came to 
forenode their deltrudion, by this portentous reprefenta- 
tion upon their backs. The Royal Academy was con- 
fulted, whether the fphinx, by its uncommon numbers, 
might not be the caufe of this calamity, fo great was the 
alarm which their appearance created §. 
* Fauna Swecica n. 809. f Ral Infect, p. 36a. n, 6a. 
| Reaumur, Tom. I. p. *93. § Idem, ubi fupra. 
