THE HAWK MOTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20426, 30 November 1929, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE HAWK MOTH.

.—By' HELEN MEARES, Gate Pah. Tan r'angtt (uge 11). Original from observation.

The New Zealand hawk moth makes a very interesting study. The caterpillars are three and a-half to four inches long, and are about three quarters of an inch through. Some of them are grey'with black circular stripes round their bodies, like their parents, while others are emerald green. Whether the difference in colour has anything to do with the sex, I have not yet discovered. On its head, tho caterpillar has a horn about half an inch lung. This I (hink must turn into the probaccis 'of the developed moth. Tho caterpillars arc generally found in numbers, feeding on the kumara leaves, and arc usually known as tho kumara grub. When picked up and handled, they feel leathery, not unlike the silk-worm.

The moth is grey, stripped with black, not unlike a tabby cat. It is about three inches long and four inches' across the wings. The thickest part of its body is about three qarters of an inch through. The moth feeds by inserting its proboscis. which is about four indies long, into the flower, whilo it still remains hovering oil the wing outside the petals. Tt is especially fond of the nectar from tiio pink beliadona and auratum lilies, which are in bloom in the autumn.

When asleep during the beat of the day, the moth is found sheltering on the under-part of the leaf of some plant. To enable it. to sleep in comfort, nature has provided a most lemarkablo way of coil-'"-T 'it'oiioacio against its body as illust rated.