June 20, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
503 
head, Esq. ; and the present Executive Committee of the Chrysanthe¬ 
mum Society. 
Mr. Cornwallis seconded the resolution, and it was passed unani¬ 
mously. 
INSECTS OF THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
(Continued from page 403.~) 
The death’s head moth, giant amongst our native moths, if he 
is to be called their king, is unfortunately also a robber on the best 
of evidence, and the only moth we have that is chargeable with 
this propensity. In countries where it is more abundant than it is 
in Britain the moth insinuates itself into bee hives so that it may 
feast upon the honey. According to some observers the bees are 
alarmed by the peculiar cry it utters, and so let it alone, but by the 
statement of others it appears the moth is sometimes found dead 
and embalmed in hives, suggesting that the bees must have had the 
courage to attack it and sting it to death. I once had reported to 
me an instance of the caterpillar feeding on the Tea tree, and 
similar instances were known to Mr. Newman. The garden 
•Jasmine is another plant that affords it food, though its favourite 
aliment is the leaves of the Potato. This caterpillar becomes very 
large, therefore it can demolish a good deal of foliage in the course 
of its life ; it is yellow and black, striped with blue, and bearing 
at the tail a curiously curved horn. 
Allied to the death’s head moth, but smaller, is the Elephant 
Hawk (Chairocampa Elpenor), fig. 82, the caterpillar of which is 
found in August near streams feeding on Willow Herbs and Bed- 
straws. It has a small head, shaped like that of an elephant; 
FIG. 82. —CHJEROCAHPA ELPENOR. 
bence the name. The general colour is greenish brown with two 
■conspicuous eye-like spots. It is one of those caterpillars which 
■from their appearance must be in danger of falling a prey to birds. 
Occasionally, as the moth is fond of flowers, it visits gardens and 
remains to deposit eggs on Epilobiums and Fuchsias ; but the 
caterpillars seldom escape the gardener’s eye if the birds miss them. 
3! have had specimens brought me off a Vine growing under glass. 
Others of the noble insects belonging to the hawk-moth tribe 
resort to gardens in the dusk of evening, and in several of the 
English counties they, with some smaller moths, also stout-bodied, 
are known by the name of moth-owlets. There they poise them¬ 
selves over fragrant flowers, feasting on the honey they extract 
from them, their eyes flashing in the twilight like tiny stars, with 
light which I should fancy is electrical rather than phosphorescent, 
but I cannot say. One of the commonest of these, generally seen 
In June, is the privet moth, the body and wings of which are 
beautifully marked with pink, brown, and black. Its caterpillar, 
•green and very smooth, has purple and white stripes ; frequently 
it is to be found on Privet hedges or scattered shrubs, also upon 
the Lilac ; now and then it devours the uninviting leaves of the 
Laurustinus. The appetite of this caterpillar being remarkably 
good, the signs of its presence on shrubs, as it gets large, are very 
■obvious. 
The wildly careering insect which is popularly called the 
humming bird hawk moth (Macroglossa stellatarum'), and which 
really has a resemblance to the tiny exotic birds, though not 
brightly coloured as they are, is a caller at our gardens, visiting a 
variety of flowers ; flying often to creepers, such as the Clematis 
and Honeysuckle trained upon houses, it occasionally enters 
rooms, causing some wonderment. Not within the garden 
boundaries does the caterpillar find its food, but on the banks o 
hedgerows of the lanes, where the Bedstraws trail their clinging 
festoons in early summer. 
It is a noticeable fact that some of the first English names 
applied to insects were given to them by gardeners who watched 
their proceedings as they fed on the trees or plants under cultiva¬ 
tion. We seem to gather also this fact from passing notices of 
insects made by old writers on gardening, that they were not much 
interfered with, insect-killers, save the finger and thumb, being un¬ 
known ; and besides, there were curious superstitions prevalent 
FIG. S3. —LARVA OF CHJEROCAMPA ELPENOR. 
which led people to believe that it was unlucky to kill, or even to 
meddle with, several groups of insects. Some gardener in a 
monastery was probably the person who designated by the name of 
“ palmer-worms ” the numerous hairy caterpillars we see about, 
whose wandering habits are so marked, and which led this old 
observer to compare them to the palmers, a class of pilgrims that 
were always journeying ii an uncertain fashion from place to 
place. Yery conspicuous amongst these are the caterpillars of the 
tiger moths. The great tiger (Arctia caja) is seldom lacking in a 
country garden, and sometimes turns up in the smaller gardens of 
towns. To say the moth “flies” during July would hardly be 
correct, so very sluggish is it, but that is the month of its 
emergence. The females deposit a large number of eggs, which 
accounts for the abundance of the species. Though hatched in the 
autumn the young caterpillars are little noticed then; they 
hybernate early amongst grasses or low plants and feed again in 
the spring. When adult it appears larger than it actually is owing 
to the long silky hairs which cover the back ; if alarmed it curls 
itself into a ball. The food is varied both in the kitchen and the 
flower garden ; thus, while we may find the caterpillar on such 
lowly plants as Bockets and Stocks, it will also mount a tall 
Hollyhock or an CEnothera to devour the leaves. Its cocoon, 
should neither the gardener nor any bird destroy it, is spun up in 
some corner and coated with the caterpillar’s hairs as a protection. 
The insect-eating birds, with one or two exceptions, evidently 
let alone such hairy caterpillars as that of the tiger, and the mode¬ 
rately hairy ones of the ermine moths. Of these the white ermine 
(Arctia Menthastre) is a garden species, a moth spotted with black 
upon a white ground, named seemingly on the supposition that the 
caterpillar frequented the Mint tribe, but it feeds on many different 
plants in August or September. As most of them are of low 
growth, it keeps well concealed under the leaves during the day ; 
should it be disturbed, it seldom rolls up, choosing rather to 
attempt an escape by rapid crawling. This species, and others 
similarly clothed with hairs, are of course not so easily killed by 
syringing as arc their brethren of the smooth-coated kinds. This 
FIG. 84. —PUPA OF CHJEROCAMPA ELPENOR. 
insect remains in the chrysalis state through the winter, and the 
cocoons, which are spun up in corners or amongst withered leaves, 
should be cleared away whenever seen. 
In the tussock family of moths many of the caterpillars have 
stiff tufts of hair, generally of bright colours. That of the gold tail 
(Liparis auriflua), a regular feeder on the Sloe and Whitethorn, 
sometimes appears upon Roses. It is a stoutish caterpillar, 
curiously warted, and showy from its colours of red, black, and 
white, being most observable about May. It may not do much 
harm to Roses, but another reason for banishing it from our 
