Fig. 179.—Caterpillar of Humming-bird Hawk-Moth (Macroglossa stellatarum).
The body is long, brown, hairy, and terminating in a tuft of divergent hairs, reminding one of a bird's tail. It is for this reason that it has been called by the French Sphinx Moineau, or Sparrow Sphinx. This resemblance is so great, that Mr. Bates, in his book on the Amazons, says he often shot species of this genus in mistake for humming-birds. The caterpillar of this remarkable Lepidopteron ([Fig. 179]) is of a pale green, with eight transversal rows of small white dots and four longitudinal rows, of which two are white and two yellowish. It has a dark blue horn, with an orange-coloured tip. It lives on different species of bed-straw, but by preference on the Galium mollugo. Before its metamorphosis, it encloses itself in a shapeless cocoon, made of the débris of leaves held together by threads, and placed on the surface of the ground. The pupa ([Fig. 180]) is of a light grey, sprinkled over with brown dots, and striped with black. Its skin is so thin and transparent that one can follow it through all the phases of transformation to the imago.
Fig. 180.—Pupa of Macroglossa stellatarum.
The genus Deilephila is composed of species whose flight is rapid, and after sunset. Such are the Deilephila euphorbiæ, the Oleander Hawk-Moth (Deilephila [Chærocampa] nerii), and the large Elephant Hawk-Moth (Deilephila [Chærocampa] elpenor).
