224 LITTLE FOLKS 
he can make a noise when caught — which is unusual for Moths — 
that proves nothing against him. 
Mr. Wood tells an amusing story about seeing one of these 
poor little creatures near a village church. The people were gath- 
ering around, and no one dared to come near it, till the blacksmith 
— braver than the rest — gave a tremendous jump, and crushed it 
with his boots. Mr. Wood preserved the flattened Moth as an 
example of popular ignorance. 
The Death's-head Moth is very large, sometimes spreading its 
wings nearly six inches, and it is dressed in sober black and brown, 
with yellow lower wings. The antennae, or feelers, are very stout, 
and have hooks on the end, as you can see, and are covered with 
long soft hair. It belongs to a family called Hawk Moths, because 
of their swift flight. 
But I must tell you about this Moth before he came out with 
wings. He was a big fat Caterpillar, perhaps five inches long, of a 
bright yellow color striped with green, and' covered with tiny black 
dots. There is a picture of him on next page. 
At the end of his body, is a sort of a horn, you see. He feeds 
upon potato plants in general, though he could eat other plants. 
But both the Caterpillar and the Moth feed only at night, and hide 
during the day, so it is difficult, even for a professional Moth hunter, 
to find them. 
When the Caterpillar is ready to stop eating and become a 
pupa, he burrows into the ground, and stays there till ready to come 
out a Moth. 
Another Moth that I want to tell you about, is the Goat Moth, 
called so because it has a strong odor, something like that given 
out by the goat. It is soberly dressed in different shades of brown, 
and it is not particularly remarkable, except in its grub state. The 
eggs of this Moth are always put deep into some crevice, in the 
bark of a tree, and as soon as it hatches out, the young grub pro- 
ceeds at once to bore into the tree. Here they spend four years, 
eating and boring all the time. 
As the grub grows larger, the tunnel he makes gets larger also, 
and many a tree has been killed by the destructive little fellow. 
He's not so little either, after he is grown ; sometimes he is three 
inches long, and as large as a man's finger. His head is wedge- 
shaped, and he has very powerful jaws. Naturalists — who like to 
keep these creatures and study out their ways — have a great deal 
