HAWK-MOTHS. 
319 
fore part of the body, and remain immovably fixed in this 
posture for hours together. In the winged state, the true 
Sphinges are known by the name of humming-bird moths, 
from the sound which they make in flying, and hawk-moths, 
from their habit of hoverincr in the air while takino; their 
food. These humming-bird (r hawk moths may be seen 
during the morning and evening twilight, flying with great 
swiftness from flower to flower. Their wings are long, 
narrow, and pointed, and are moved by poweidul muscles, 
to accommodate which their bodies are very thick and ro¬ 
bust. Their tongues, when uncoiled, are, for the most part, 
excessively long, and with them they extract the honey from 
the blossoms of the honeysuckle and other tubular flowers, 
while on the wing. Other Sphinges fly during the daytime 
only, and in the brightest sunshine. Then it is that our 
large clear-winged Sesise make their appearance among the 
flowers, and regale themselves with their sweets. The 
fragrant Phlox is their especial favorite. From their size 
and form and fan-like tails, from their brilliant colors, and 
the manner in which they take their food, poised upon 
rapidly vibrating wings above the blossoms, they might 
readily be mistaken for humming-birds. The ^gerians are 
also diurnal in their habits. Their flight is swift, but not 
prolonged, and they usually alight while feeding. In form 
and color they so much resemble bees and wasps as hardly 
to be distinguished from them. The Smerinthi are heavy 
and sluggish in their motions. They fly only during the 
night, and apparently, in the winged state, take no food, 
for their tongues are very short, and indeed almost invisible. 
The Glaucopidians, or Sphinges with feathered antennae, 
fly mostly by day, and alight to take their food, like many 
moths, which some of them resemble in form, and in their 
transformations. The caterpillars of the Sphinges have six¬ 
teen legs, placed in pairs beneath the first, second, third, 
sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and last segments of the body; 
all of them, except the ^gerians and Glaucopidians, have 
