66 
LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
have never seen one alight ; they always continue 
on the wing, and if alarmed, are gone like a thought. 
This is the Tobacco Hawk-moth {SpMnx Caro- 
lina) , a large but sober-coloured species. The usual 
food of the larva is the tobacco plant, on which it 
is found in considerable numbers, and it is there- 
fore eagerly sought and destroyed ; yet still the 
perfected moth is by no means scarce. I have also 
taken it from the tomato. The pupa is large, dark 
reddish brown, subterraneous in its habits, and is 
remarkable for a curious departure from ordinary 
structure, though this departure is not quite peculiar 
to it. If we take off the hard, shelly skin of a 
chrysalis, not very near its time of change, we 
find what appears to be a nearly homogeneous 
mass of white matter in a semifluid state, without 
any semblance of limbs, members, or organs. Yet 
all the parts of the future fly are there, perfectly 
separate and distinct, though not yet fully deve- 
loped. In the outer skin, however, which has ac- 
quired consistency by exposure, the shape of the 
limbs and external organs is definitely marked. On 
the front of a chrysalis, we usually perceive in the 
centre, running from the head, half-way down the 
body, a double line, which covers the tongue ; on 
each side of this are ranged three other folds, mark- 
ing the positions of the three pairs of legs ; these 
folds are broadest at the head, and taper to a point ; 
then come the antennss, long and slender, one on 
each side the leg ; in some moths, however, they 
are very wide and short ; and outside them, the fore 
wings folded down on the breast, small of course, 
but still displaying the future form, and even the 
nervures ; the hind wings cannot be seen, because 
they are folded directly beneath the others. 
