THE GIANT HAWK MOTH 
21 
The pupae can easily be recognized by their glossy 
black skins, and the small white cocoons in which 
they are almost hidden. 
NOTES—Observe the position of the wings when 
the insect is at rest. ! he food of the “woolly bear 
caterpillars includes the leaves of ragwort, 
cinerarias and groundsel. 
THE GIANT HAWK MOTH 
DESCRIPTION—Also called the “Sphinx Moth.” 
The largest of the common moths found in New 
Zealand. The two larger wings are grey, speckled 
with a darker shade of the same colour. The two 
lower wings are greyish black with two bands of 
a paler shade on each wing, one near the outer 
edge, and the other parallel to it at a distance of 
approximately a quarter of an inch. When full 
grown, the moth has a width of 3^ inches from 
wing tip to wing tip. Its body is very stout, 
greyish in colour with stripes on the sides of rose 
colour, black and white. Antennae become thicker 
towards the outward ends, the tips of each 
terminating in a hook (see p. 9). 
HABITS—The moth feeds at dusk. ' Whilst 
hovering over a flower it pushes its enormous 
proboscis into the nectary to extract the honey 
whilst remaining poised in the air. Its flight from 
flower to flower is very rapid. 
CYCLE—Female moth lays eggs near or upon 
some part of a plant of the convolvulus family, 
including the kumara. The caterpillars, hatched 
from these eggs, feed on the leaves, and soon grow 
to a huge size—from 3 to 3| inches long. Some- 
