hairy species of the usual green color. On the other hand, there are
fifty species with black or blackish caterpillars, and of these
forty-eight are hairy or downy.

In ten of our larger moths the caterpillars are more or less marked
with red. Of these, three are hairy, one is an internal feeder, four
have reddish lines, which probably serve for protection by simulating
lines of shadow, and one, the Euphorbia Hawk-moth, is inedible. The
last, the striped Hawk-moth, is rare, and I have never seen the
caterpillar; but to judge from figures, the reddish line and spots
would render it, not more, but less conspicuous amongst the low
herbage which it frequents.

Seven species only of the larger moths have any blue; of these, four
are hairy, the other three are Hawk-moths. In one, the Death's Head,
the violet color of the side stripes certainly renders the insect less
conspicuous among the flowers of the potato, on which it feeds. In the
Oleander Hawk-moth there are two blue patches, which, both in color
and form, curiously resemble the petals of the periwinkle, on which it
feeds. In the third species, the small Elephant Hawk-moth, the bluish
spots form the centres of the above-mentioned eye-like spots.

In one family, as already mentioned, the caterpillars are very often
brown, and closely resemble bits of stick, the similarity being much
increased by the peculiar attitudes they assume. On the other hand,
the large brown caterpillars of certain Hawk-moths are night feeders,
concealing themselves on the ground by day; and it is remarkable that
while those species, such as the Convolvulus Hawk-moth, which feed on
low plants, turn brown as they increase in age and size, others, which
frequent trees, and cannot therefore descend to the ground for
concealment, remain green throughout life. Omitting these, there are
among the larger species, seventeen which are brown, of which twelve
are hairy, and two have extensile caudal filaments. The others closely
resemble bits of stick, and place themselves in peculiar and stiff
attitudes.

And thus, summing up the caterpillars, both of butterflies and moths,
out of eighty-eight spiny and hairy species, only one is green, and
even this may not be protectively colored, since it has conspicuous
yellow warts. On the other hand, a very great majority of the black
and brown caterpillars, as well as those more or less marked with blue
and red, are either hairy or spiny, or have some special p