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The larva of that familiar and much-dreaded insect, the death's-head hawk-moth, feeds as a rule on the foliage of the potato, and its very varied colouring, as Sir John Lubbock has pointed out, so beautifully harmonises with the brown of the earth, the yellow and green of the leaves, and the faint purplish blue of the lurid flowers, that it can only be distinguished when the eye happens accidentally to focus itself exactly upon the spot occupied by the unobtrusive caterpillar.
She didn't know what a Tersa Sphinx might be, but if its capture gave him pleasure, that was all she cared for in the world. "It is a Tersa!" he almost shouted. "By George! it's a wonder." Radiant, she bent eagerly above the jar where the strange, slender, gray-and-brown hawk-moth lay dying. Its recoiling proboscis and its slim, fawn-coloured legs quivered. The eyes glowed like tiny jewels.
They are seldom seen walking, but rest on the slender sprigs when tired. The flight is so rapid that it seems without effort. The humming sound is produced by the wing, in the act of keeping itself balanced while feeding in this position. They resemble the hawk-moth, which also keeps up a constant vibratory motion with its wings.
They have observed the metamorphosis of caterpillars into butterflies, and think it not at all more wonderful that a moth should change into a hummingbird. The resemblance between this hawk-moth and a hummingbird is certainly very curious, and strikes one even when both are examined in the hand.
One of my hop-pickers captured and presented me with a very fine specimen of the Convolvulus Hawk-moth at Aldington; they were generally comparatively common that year and a collector took no less than seventeen in a few days in the public garden at Bournemouth.
Next year this pupa will split down the back, and from out of the brown case will come a hawk-moth, which soon will fly with rapidly quivering wings and feast upon the nectar of our moon flowers or on that of the "Jimson" weed. Those who have cleaned these pests from the potato or tomato vines will often have noticed one of them covered with what look almost like grains of rice.
This exclusiveness of the carnivorous larva seems all the more probable inasmuch as the larva reared on vegetable food refuses in any way to lend itself to a change of diet. However pressed by hunger, the caterpillar of the Spurge Hawk-moth, which browses on the tithymals, will allow itself to starve in front of a cabbage leaf which makes a peerless meal for the Pieris.
To prevent this evil, I have arranged a series, denominated "Developing Lessons," the great object of which is to induce children to think and reflect on what they see. They are thus formed: at the top is a coloured picture, or series of coloured pictures of insects, quadrupeds, and general objects. For instance, there is one containing the poplar, hawk-moth, and wasp.
But when he noticed that her dress was green and yellow, he knew at once that she was a sorceress, for the caterpillar of the hawk-moth is green and yellow, and it, too, knows how to bewitch the eye.
It is the same if you pass by a honeysuckle in the evening; you will be surprised how much stronger its scent is than in the day- time. This is because the sphinx hawk-moth is the favourite visitor of that flower, and comes at nightfall, guided by the strong scent, to suck out the honey with its long proboscis, and carry the pollen-dust. Again, some flowers close whenever rain is coming.
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