Death's-head Moth (Acherontia atropos), a species of Hawk-moth (q.v.), in the family Sphingidae, not uncommon in some parts of England and of the continent of Europe. It is widely distributed over the world, being found in Africa, the Mauritius, and the East Indies. It is one of the largest of the European Lepidoptera, and measures almost six inches from tip to tip of the extended wings. The general colour is dark, the woolly body yellow, with black markings, the thorax with markings which have some resemblance to a skull, the upper wings mottled with brown, black, and yellow, the hind wings dark yellow with two black bands. The large caterpillar is greenish-yellow, the back speckled with black, with transverse lines partly blue and partly white. The tail end bears an S-shaped horn. In countries where the potato is cultivated it is often to be found feeding on the leaves of that plant.
In the pupa stage it is brown, and lies in a hole in the ground. The insect is nocturnal in habit, and is interesting as an audacious plunderer of bee-hives. How it daunts the bees is a mystery. Even more remarkable is the much discessed shrill piping note, which is probably produced by the forcible expulsion of air from the fore-gut through a cleft in the proboscis. The sudden appearance of large numbers is popularly regarded as ominous of evil, and in the Mauritius the insect is believed to cast from its wings a dust which produces blindness in those persons on whom it falls.