This is the largest moth found in the Canary Islands,
known as the Death’s Head, very rarely met with in
England.
It measures from five to six inches in expanse. The
ground-colour of the fore-wings is brown, varied with
zig-zag lines of whitish yellow and light brown. There
is a white dot in the centre of each, and they are
dusted all over with minute white dots. The hind-wings
are orange, with two black marginal bands on
the lower edge. The head is dark brown or black,
marked with a pale-brown skull. The body is orange,
with a longitudinal band of bluish grey down the centre,
increasing in width towards the base. Six bands of
black, broadest near the head, cross the body. The
antennæ are rather short and thick, tipped with white.
The caterpillar measures about four inches in length,
and is of a most gorgeous green and yellow colour,
alternate transverse bands of these colours running
along the sides. It has eight small eyes in a line
below the transverse bands, and a horn on its tail. It
feeds on the potato, the pupa making a cell for itself
underground, and appearing in the largest numbers
between May and July; but as a fresh crop of potatoes
is planted every three months in the Canaries, the
caterpillars are found in small numbers all the year
round.
When bred in captivity the pupa is delicate, quite
five out of ten dying in their cases.
SPHINX CONVOLVULI or BATATÆ.
This moth is found in England, and all over Europe.
It is a large moth, measuring about five inches across
the wings. All four wings are of a variegated grey-brown
colour, the body having a longitudinal grey
stripe, increasing in width at the base, and five stripes
of pink and black across it alternately. The antennæ
are somewhat longer and more slender than those of
the Death’s Head moth. They are feathered, and grey
in colour, terminating in a sharp point. The insect is
provided with a very long proboscis, which one sees it
inserting into the centre of the flowers at dusk. During
the winter months it is met with commonly in some
years. The caterpillar, which measures four inches in
length, feeds on the sweet potato in the fields, and on
the petunia and phlox in gardens. It is of a brown-grey
colour, shading to green on the back, having
black longitudinal stripes along the back, and transverse
black and white stripes surmounted by white
spots at the sides. It is a night-feeder, hiding itself
under the leaves or in the ground at day-time, and
constructing the pupa-case underground. It is delicate
and difficult to rear in captivity, like the Atropos.