This is the largest of all the British hawk moths, for its outspread wings often measure as much as five inches from tip to tip. You cannot possibly mistake it for any other insect, for on its back it has a patch of short yellow hair which looks just like a skull. That is why it is called the “Death’s Head.” If you want to find the caterpillar you should look for it in potato fields in the month of August. It is a great yellow creature, four or even five inches in length, with seven blue stripes on each side, and a yellow horn on its tail. And if you meet with it, and pick it up, you will be surprised to find that it can squeak quite loudly! Stranger still, the chrysalis can squeak too, and so can the moth! Indeed, if you pick up a Death’s Head Hawk Moth it will go on squeaking very much like a mouse all the time that you hold it in your hand!
The caterpillar of this grand moth feeds chiefly on potato leaves, but is sometimes found on jessamine and buckthorn. When it is fully fed it buries itself eight or ten inches deep in the ground, and turns into a huge reddish-brown chrysalis, from which the moth generally hatches out in October.
Wherever privet bushes grow you may expect to find this handsome insect, which is sometimes very nearly as large as the “death’s head.” One does not very often see the perfect moth, however, for it only flies by night, and contrives to hide itself away in some secure retreat during the hours of daylight. But sometimes you may see it at dusk hovering in front of petunia blossoms, and sucking up their sweet juices through its long slender trunk. You may find the caterpillar, however, in almost every garden if you look for it during August or the early part of September. It is a most beautiful creature, of the brightest apple-green colour, with seven purple stripes on either side, each of which is edged with yellow below. And on its tail is a glossy black horn with a yellow base. It feeds chiefly on the leaves of privet, but you may sometimes find it on those of lilac and elder. When it reaches its full size it buries itself in the ground and turns into a big reddish-brown chrysalis, from which the moth hatches out about midsummer in the following year.