This noted moth is one of the most remarkable of European insects. It is the largest of its genus, measuring, when its wings are fully expanded, nearly five inches in breadth. The prevailing colors of its upper wings are dark but rich waves of brown and black, broken by lighter touches and marked with a single white spot. The lower wings are yellowish, barred with black. The head and throat are dark; upon the upper portions of the throat, and on the body, are stamped with singular distinctness, a _death’s-head_ and collar bones, such as are usually represented in mortuary devices. It is in consequence of these markings that the Death’s-head Moth has become an object of terror to the superstitious. Reaumur mentions a whole convent of nuns being driven to their wits end by the sudden appearance of one of these strange insects flying in at a dormitory window, of a summer’s evening. They never showed themselves formerly without causing more or less alarm. In addition to the singular mark on their bodies, these moths are also endowed with a peculiar gift, held to be almost miraculous by the wondering vulgar; when at all disturbed or irritated, they utter a cry which has been compared to that of a bat. The cause of this sound uttered by an insect whose race is wholly silent, has been a subject of much doubt and controversy; the best opinion would seem that it is produced by the vibration of two horny scales fixed on the thorax and covering a small aperture. To add to the character of this ominous moth, another naturalist has observed that the chrysalis, unlike that of others, is always buried in the earth, and enwrapped in a shroud-like garment. The caterpillar of the Death’s-head is large, and brilliantly colored; yellow, obliquely barred with green, and spotted at intervals with blue and black. It has the usual horn-like tail of the caterpillars of the hawk-moth family. It feeds by preference on the leaves of the potato, and those of the jessamine; and is also found on hemp and woody night- shade. The tea-tree is another of its favorites, but, of course, in Europe, this last fancy can not often be indulged. They generally lie concealed by day, among the herbage, or in the earth. In August, they assume the chrysalis state, being wrapped in their tissue shrouds; and in September or October, appears the perfect and ominous moth, which, in some countries, has been called the “wandering bird.” When they first emerge from their gauze-like shrouds, their wings are not more than a finger-nail in breadth, but in the course of an hour or two, they are stretched and dilated to their full size.