From the foregoing there can be no question that there are at least two generations of the moth in some years, and in our own country, but we have even clearer evidence of this in the records of 1900, when a moth was taken in the spring at Ayton, Berwickshire, another at Worsborough Bridge on June 18, and a third at Kilmarnock, on a bee-hive, July 11. Caterpillars were found during late July and August in South Scotland and various parts of England, and moths were reared from some of these. In September and October caterpillars were found more commonly, and two or three moths were captured, in various places, between August 19 and October 9; others, reared from September caterpillars, emerged from October 30 to November 24.
By the rustic, and possibly the uninitiated generally, the moth is looked upon as something uncanny. This is probably due to the fact that the creature, when handled, emits a peculiar sound that has been described as a shrill squeak. According to Kirby, the statement made by Rossi that the sound is produced by air from the air-sacs being forced through the
proboscis, has been verified. Another dread-inspiring character of the insect is the marking on the thorax, which has been likened to a skull and crossbones. The squeak is said to have the effect of quieting the bees, they being under the impression that it proceeds from their queen.
It has been taken at some time or another in almost every part of the British Isles, right up to and including the Shetlands. Except that it has not been observed in the more northern parts, the species is found throughout Europe, North and South Africa, the Canary Islands, and the Azores. It is also represented in Southern India, extending to the Malays, and in China, Corea, and Japan.
Convolvulus Hawk-moth, Herse (Sphinx) convolvuli.
The older writers on British moths called this the "Unicorn" or "Bindweed Hawk." The fore wings are whitish grey, mottled with darker tints, and, in the male, clouded with blackish about the middle of the wing; the central third is limited inwardly by a double blackish, wavy line, and outwardly by an irregular, toothed, whitish line; running from one to the other are two black streaks between the veins, and a similar streak nearer the costa is waved upwards to the tip of the wing. The hind wings are whitish grey, with a black stripe near the base, and two blackish bands between the stripe and the outer margin. The thorax agrees in colour with the fore wings; the tapered body has a broad grey stripe, enclosing a central black line along the back, broad red and black and narrow white bands on each side (Plate [10]).
The egg has been described as bright green in colour, and smaller than that of the Privet Hawk. A female moth captured at Brighton on July 18, 1898, deposited twenty-five eggs on Convolvulus arvensis up to July 20, and the next day a further eight were counted. The moth died on the 22nd. Caterpillars hatched out July 27-28. These were whitish green, with a rough blackish horn; after second moult they became green, with a darker green stripe along the back, but without oblique side stripes.
| Pl. 10. |
| Convolvulus Hawk-moth. |