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ntmtiitt»mm III ii

North American Lepidoptera.

The

Hawk Moths of North America

by

A. Radcliffe Grote, A. M.

Vice President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, etc.

PRICE: ONE DOLLAR.

---^-^^^iV^t^^^^^ts^

BREMEN.

Printed by Homeyer A Meyer.

^^ff^JoMO'^GiOAL Branch

DEPARTMENT OF AOmcULTURE OTTAWA - - Oana&A

SSI

TO

Prof. WILLIAM SAUNDERS, F. R. S. C.

* OF LONDON, ONTARIO,

Anfhor of nnnun'ons and most raluahlc irrifiiijfs on Amcricnn

E)itoniolo(j}j, both pfdcliail and ^rirnfitiv, Editor of the

Canadian Ento)noIo(/i.st,

this work is most gratefully dedicated in remembrance

of many kindnesses bestowed by him upon his obliged

and life-long friend and fellow-laborer,

THE AUTHOR.

pool's of natural histort/ aim comnionhj to he hasty schedules, or inventories of GocVs property hy some clerh. Tliey do not in the least teach the divine view of nature hut the 2)0pnJar view, or rather the popular method of studying nature, and malce haste to conduct the persevering pupil only into that dilemma where the professors always dwell.

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toteau.

i OTTAWA . '''^.^'^ '-'i- njR£

C>ArvAi;A

On Collecting and Preserving for the Cabinet.

In (les Paiiillou's Gestalt

Flattr' icli nacli ilen letzten Ziigen. —

Goethe.

R

lature, like Virgil's sorceress, incessantly repeats, enchanting: Duvitc, ah urhc dnnmrn. men cnr»nna, durifc Daphuim! and brings us by many lures to her home in wood and field. Under the spell exercised by the display of Butterflies and Moths, we may behold the Entomologists, chasing their treasures by day through the meadows, in the evening waiting for them by beds of scented flowers, at ni'ght watching by bait and light the coming of their tiny prey. The study combines Art and Science in a peculiarly seductive manner. Even in flowers we have no more beautiful patterns and colors and here these may be preserved for the most part perfectly and for a life time in a Collection. Tints which we do not find in Art often brought together, are here harmoniously blended, as the blue and green in the Wandering Hawk Moth, Argons hibnisccw, and the pink and yellow of the Eosy Dryocampa. The moths afford superb instances of the blending of neutral tints, unspeakably soft broAvns and grays, as in the Smrrinthinae and the "False Hawk Moths", the species of the Bombycid genus Apatehdes. These two, A. aru/flica and A. fonrfacta, are remarkable for their casual resemblance to certain un- ocellated Smcrhdhinac, no less than for the delicacy of their shaded neutral colors. It is owing to the natural constitution of the human mind, that it is pleasantly occupied in observing the diiferent forms, in solving the many questions

6

which the structure and lives of these tiny creatures suggest. In the case of the Indo-Germanic peoples there is, to aid this, a decided tendency to the study of Natural History, to investigate the material constitution of the world in Avhich we live and of which we form a part.

Collecting with the net over flowers in the evening, when the Hawk Moths are active, is a very alluring pursuit. Verbena beds, Avhere the flowers are of the white variety, against which the hovering j\Ioths art; more easily seen, I have found very productive. An intelligent and charming writer, Mrs. C. H. Fernald, has given us a list of the cultivated plants attractive to these insects. I may be forgiven for ([uoting her words: ..Most people love flowers and cultivate them for their beauty and fragi-ance, but to collectors of insects some of them have a double charm, for they attract some of the most beautiful and rare Lcpidopfrfd. The common lilac, Si/rii/f/a rulffaris and the Tartarian and Sil)erian Honeysuckles, when in full bloom, during the hottest hours of a bright, sunny day, are a perfect paradise for several of the Lei)idoptera, as Avell as numerous Hymenoptera and I)ii)tera. The gaudy I'djnUo tiiruHs sails proudly over the highly scented flowers, fre(iuently dropping down to sip the nectar: and Hcmori.^ diffiuis and ihiisbo, with an occasional <fr(iri/ls, whiz about the flowers as "busy as the bees." Tlien, at twilight, the larger Sphinx moths, (/(irdi/is and cliiniKiciiciii, and i-arely /Nscifiosa. dart swiilly from shrub to shrub, and from flower to floAver, requiring a ([uick eye and hand to capture them, /fcliojtliila alhiUiH'a, P/usid si m pier, and jn-crdfioiiis, and occasionally a hiniac/ildfd are also taken on these flowers. I have captured more insects o]i Ocudthcra LaiiHirc/ciaiut, than on any other plant. A plot about three feet square gives from fifty to one hundred fresh flowers about four inches in diameter ever}- evening, and if the seed pods are picked off, they may be kept in bloom for three months." In addition to the Omothcra, or Evening Primrose, of which Mrs. Fernald writes, my kind friend Mr. L. W. Goodell of Amherst, Mass. , notes the cultivated varieties of Datura, Mignonette, Alyssum,

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and Pinks as being very attractive to Motlis. On Staton Island, where the wild Ddho-a flninifniiin)/, or Janu'stown Weed, is common, T have tak(;n several Hawk ]\I()ths on its white and pnrple llowers. Also on different sorts of Axvlcpias, or Milkweeds, the leaves of which are eaten by the larvae of DniifiKft ph'xi})})Hs and FjkIkh'Ics ciiIc, and are gi^nerally very attractive jilants to bees and beetles and buttcMflies.

In taking Cloths with the net, the poison buttle should be kept handy and the insect introduced into it as (piickly and dextrously as i)ossible, to prevent injury to the wings and especially to the line fringes which are easily abraided in fluttering.

The acti(m of chlorofVn-m l)eing very rapid. T have used a bottle, fastened to the cork of which (inside) was a small bit of sponge, which I kept moistened with this anaesthetic. Into this bottle I introduced the insects fr(»m the net, transferring them in a few moments to the cyanide bottle. They hardly fluttered and the fringes were preserved. Some collectors use a needle fastened in a little Avooden handle as an implement for impaling ]\Iuths resting on fences, trunks of trees, in the daytime. The pinned ^Moth is then quickly introduced into a small close box in which a chloro- formed sp(mge is fastened. The ])in must be carefully used so as to transfix the moth through the center of the thorax and avoid destroying the thoracic tufts. If this method is objected to, the resting Moth may be covered by the chloroform or cyanide bottle. As cyanide is a deadly poison, too much care cannot be taken with it. A solution of arsenious acid and nicotine (extract of tobacco) may be used to kill larger moths; the pin used for the specimen being first dipped in this solution. It has been also reconnnended to use a hypodermic syringe to introduce poisons. I myself have only used the two sorts of bottles, chloroform and cyanide and which have answered the i)urpose sufficiently well. Individual experience must determine the best methods.

The operation of setting Moths for the Cabinet is one requiring great nicety and care. The specimens must not be allowed to get too dry, as then the wings cannot be

8

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broiiglit into tlie required position witliout forcing them too roughly. The h)ng German pins, made especially for the purpose should be used, and setting boards of soft pine wood of dittV'i'ent sizes must be kept in readiness. Black or silvered i)ins are the best to use. In Germany the Naturalist shops sell setting boards of which the two sides are fastened by moveable screws, so that they can be shifted to suit the size of the insects. They are about a foot long, a convenient length, with cork beneath for the pin to enter. A well set Moth should have the hind edge of the forewings on a line with the thorax behind, and the liindwings brought up so as to leave the abdomen free. The wings may be fastened by strips of glazed paper fastened by pins, and the wings should be carefully brought into position by a stout bristle fixed in a handle and applied against the veins of the costae, so as to avoid making holes in the wing itself during the operation. In this, as in all pertaining to the practical side of the study, experience will suggest many things to the collector, Avho will naturally take pride and intei'est in having his specimens look Avell.

The best months for hunting the larvae of the Hawk Moths are July and August; and one of the most prolific spots, a vineyard.

Caterpillars may be prepared for the Collection in their various stages to illustrate the growth of the species. For this purpose they must be first killed by being placed in a chloroform bottle. The dead caterpillar should then be placed between tAvo pieces of blotting paper and, by a gradually encreasing pressure of the fingers, the contents of the body expressed out of the anus, so that at length nothing is left but the empty skin like the finger of a glove. Care, by avoiding sudden and unequal pressure, must be taken not to break the coloring cells of the skin ; with the best of care, however, green caterpillars lose their color under the operation. The empty skin is then to be fastened, by the introduction of a small tube in the vent, to an india rubber inhalator (such as can be had at any drug store) and forcing the empty skin gently full of air, keeping it

9

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(lisU'iidt'd till (Irieil ovor a '-stoVH--. A tin box with one end out makes a very ^ood iinpi'oniptn ••stove", which nuist he used in drying' 'li'' inflated skin. An alcohol Hiiiiie held undei- the, box (1 have used a selt/er-powder ho.x attached moveahly to a stand so that it could he removed from oi- approached to the tliime) heats the air within it and the cateipillar. l)ein<? introduced through the open I'lid. must he kept inflated, hy the rubber inhiiliit(»r until (hied. With a common insect pni. introthiced through the diied ;ind protrudin<;- intestine, the specimen may he pinned in the cabinet. <'aterpillars so piepare(l may be als(» artificially colore(l. lint as a rule, with care in the preparation, which needs practice, this is not necessai'y. Pupai' killed by heat may be also pinned (after a tiiorou<>li dryin.ui in the collection.

As to a cabinet, som ■ collectors prefer one with draweis liavinf? a cork lininu- i remember that 1 was a.>tonished when ii the Camb . ige Museun, lo fiml that l)r. Hagen us'^d no linin<;- at all, turcin<r ihc pins into the soft pine bottom of the drawer its(df. J'<U( I think no lepidopterist W(»uld avail himself of such a plan. As it was. 1 noticed that many (d' the frailer types of Ztdler had become broken; the points of the pins blunting or breaking oil and the specimens sutfering under tliis treatment. In (rermany turf and other cheaper materials are used as a substitute for cork. All this may be left to the choice of the collector. The plan upon which I proceeded, was to make boxes, of a book shape, being a little longer than wide, having a pane of glass for the top and one for the bottom. The glass was fitted in a morticed frame and fastened in position by three-cor- nered bits of tin such as glaziers use. Tlie boxes were abotit 12 X 1-^ inches, but their size is a matter of taste. The frame must be fully 2\/l' inches deep clear of the glass, to prevent the heads of the pins touching the same. After fastening in the bottom glass. I arranged small line cut corks at regular intervals in the box, guiding myself by a sheet of ruled paper beneath, and fixing the corks by means of a cemenr, made of goldsize and red lead. Mr. W. T, Davis

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informed me that Stratena, a common cement, answers the purpose ver}' well. The intervals between the corks are regulated by the size of the specimens to be placed in the box. TVhen the box is filled, each specimen carefully pinned in the center of its cork, the top glass may be fitted and fastened in the frame and the edges pasted over with strips of paper to exclude dust and mites. The advantages of this method of preserving the collection are, that both surfaces of the specimens can be viewed without opening the box ; that dust and insect enemies, such as mites and Anf/ircni, are guarded against without the use of poison. These boxes are also very (dieap and can be simply arranged on shelves like books. When filled and the specimens are to take their definitive place in the collection, the glass can be pei-manently closed and a list of the contents with the Family name at the head })asted at the back of the box. The objection that the specimens cannot be readily gotten at is outweighed by the consideration that they are adequately preserved. Spe- cimens Avhich are the subjects of study can be kept ad ii/frriiii in store boxes. So long as I kept my specimens in such glass boxes, I never lost a single one from museum pests. If an infected example was by any accident introduced, the damage Avas always confined to the infected specimen. The Anthrniit!< larva would fall and, owing to its inability to crawl on glass, would perish before reaching a second spe- cimen. The French Entomologist, the late M- Guenee, used to keep his types in smaller glass boxes of a similar con- struction for their better preservation, and I had the oppor- tunity of seeing them at his house in Chateaudun, Each specimen should have a locality label attached to the pin and the bottom specimen cf a series should bear the correct Latin name and the Authority ; written labels are, as a rule, better, being more evidently authentic, than printed ones. The collector can pass many happy hours v/ith his specimens, microscoi)e and notes, and happy hours are always welcome in this life.

Collecting at Night has the drawback that one never knows when to stop and go himie to bed. seduced by tlie

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mysterious silences and shadowy vistas in the woods. Even when the niotlis will n(j longer come to bait, one lins^ers, waiting for some revelation. The moon has transformed the prospect and in its weird light an uneasy spirit seizes one to adventure farther yet. Beyond that tree, half in gloom and half clothed in gauzy light, some forbidden i)rocession moves and we have forgotten our entomological (luest in remembering nursery tales and catch ourselves hoping to meet the Old World Fairies, as if they, too. had emigrated, under the pressure of these bad times of incredulity perhaps. But oftenest I turn the shadows into Indians, and when the Whip-i)oor-will is suddenly silent. I believe they are coming at length, with King Phillip leading the last hope of these ghosts who rebel at fate in their red graves and at the order of things, the white man with his physical ritle and intellec- tual cannon of Evolution among othei-. And then my favorite Indian of them all, Wannalancet, warns me again in time and I rout all these spectres, res(dving them back into their true shape with the heartless magic of reason. But I have often been out all night in the woods, and slept, too, in my blanket by a little tire, as good an Indian as any of them. As such time I was not (X)n(;erned chietly about moths. I was curious to find out v.hat happened and how the world got along in the dark. It seemed on the whole very Avell and without any necessity for a doctor. In the dead of the dark, the pale C^ueen of the Night ^lr//V^s• Lmm) swept by me, with the green moon-light reflected from her wings. A strange life these insects lead and one feels like asking the winged butterfly if it has any recollection of the time when it crawled about as a worm, or clung tenaciiuisly to a leaf or branch, the very opposite of this final fantastic life in the ether. And, again, if it remembers the days whicli it passed cramped together in its chrysalis :

Turi)i clausus in area, contractum

genibus tangas caput .... awaiting, nuimmy-like, Avith iiatience, its day of deliverance. The early Dawn is a profitable time for the collector of Lepidoptera, who may then surprise the moths on their

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first resting i)laces after the fatigues of the night. On Staten Ishnid in.v early lising was rewarded by many cai)tures at the hour when the Cat J3ird sings and betrays, to none but chosen ears, lier relationship to the many-tuned ]\Iocking Bird of the South. Later in the day she utters but the peevish cry which lias suggested the conunon name. On one such occasion I discov(n-ed. resting on a wild vine, which grew on the South Beach near the sand and tlie waters of the Bay, a pair of of the (xreat (jreen vine Hawk, P/iilaui- j)chis pdHt/ofHs. One, I took, but the other escaped me, fiying directly over the Bay and out to sea. So far as X could watch its arrowy Might, over the smooth expanse of ocean, it kept its course towards the Atlantic, cleaving the saffron colored air, now turning golden under the rays of the rising sun. These are tinier f/xihtssiplii/df than the Sea Swallows. But the sea gathers in all such wanderers, with othei-, larger prey. They go gaily for a time but the wave beneath is endless and receives them at last. However, chan- nels, rivers and bays are safely crossed by our Butterflies and Moths. Farther u]) towards the hills, on the rocky bed of a brooklet, I found si)ecimens of that moth-like butter- fly F(')iis('r(( Tdnpi'miiis, abroad early but yet sleepy, still carrying into the New World the memory of the rapacious Roman of the Old, no doul»t with miniature sins of its own to answer for. My specimens from the j\Iiddle States led me afterwards to unite J'orscin/a of S('U(hler as not different and a certain odd impression, that we had to do with a mas(iuerading moth, to study its structure and make the new genus for it and take it out of the (;omi)any among which Btjisduval had scientifically classed it. Thus certain hours and places, lanes, along which the green tiger-beetle flew up ever and anon before my boy's feet, marshalling the way that I should go, come back to me again out of the years of my early studies, intoxicating my memory. Poe says that j(ty is not gathered twice in a life, as the roses of Paestum twice in a year. But I gathered tlien so much that it lasts until now, when world-griefs hold me fast.

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In tlie Hawk Moths the species are all usually readily se- parable. I have shown in the Lepidoptera the existence of Frofioirra, that is of o-eneric groni)S of forms which are nearer related to each other than is usually the case ; which are. perhaps, in some stages of growth undistinguishable. Such genera are HotuJciica, Datdua, Niulata, etc. We may conclude that these species are of recent separation. In the Hawk Moths such instances may be offered perhajts by the typical group of H('iii<(ris aud again b.y fj/i/o. The necess- ary studies on this i)oint are, however, wanting. We may regard theoretically all species as only i-elatively stable; practically we have to iind out the cycle of reproduction and be guided by these results in our nomenclature.

Butterflies and Moths can be collected every where in the habitable globe. Even the Arctic regions are not with- out their species, while it seems likely that certain Moths still show themselves in the farthest North when the Butter- flies have ceased to fly. With a change of Continent we have also a change in the kinds of insects. As we approach the Tropics, Butterflies und Moths become more plentiful in kinds. But, even in the same degree of latitude, there is a difference in the numbers of the individual species to be observed in different <iuarters of the globe. Thus it has always seemed to me that Butterflies und Moths were more plentiful in America than in Europe. And, as a whole, I think the American Lepidoptera are gayer, nu)re beautiful and certainly more numerous in species. In this connection I remember what Lin!.aeus wrote about American plants: Nescio quae fato facies laeta glabra plantis Americanis !

AMiile I am writing this in my European exile, I hear a fluttering at my window and I see that a specimen of the "Kleine Fuchs", as the (lermans call Voncssa rrficnc, has strayed into my room and is beating against the window pane. The sight of this species recalls to me the fact that I am far from home. I have just interrupted my writing to open the window and let it out and I noticed, as I did so, that my neighbor, the Poet, was in the garden

14

gathering inspiration from the Koses. He repeated to me his verses :

Die Rosen gelieii auf

In (lieser Sonne, Ancli (In gehat auf. niein Kos',

In Lebenswoune ! Entbliittere nicht ssu friih,

Halt' 'was zuriick, Die Zeit die geht zn schnell, Zu schnell das Giiick! l*oor feUow ! Witli a few gray liairs already visible under his cap, he sings of Youth and Love ! 1 have another neigh- l)or here, the Musician, and we live (piite happily, respecting each other's foibles and having a large bond of sympathy in common, as might be expected from a Poet, a Musician and a Naturalist. I shall read this chapter to them, if no more than from a system of revenge for having myself been obliged to listen to a poem and a song which they have recently produced.

Bremen, July li). IHKd.

A. n. G.

ml.

15

The Species of North American Hawk Moths.

1 he Authors who liave written extendedly upon the Nortli American Hawk Moths, or Spliiufiidtic, are Harris (1839), Walker flSSG), Clemens (1859), (4rote und Robinson (1865), Boisduval (1874), Butler (1876). (^rote il877j and Fernald (1886). Of these Walker, Boisduval and Butler have described our species in connection with those from other parts of the world. Since 1865 groups (sub-families or tribes) have been recognised, although these were more or less distinctly indicated and in i)art named by oldei- Authors, in particular by Hiibner. Unidentified descriptions are discussed by me in Papilio, 2, 170.

In the present Avork*) I have gone over my notes and earlier papers on the family, maintaining my 'se(|uence of the genera, which had been in the main i-ecognised by Butler. My manuscript was intended as a chapter of an extended work on North American Moths, which awaited a publisher, when the appearance of Professor Fernald's pam- phlet upon the "Sphingidae of New England", induced me first to send my list of the species to the "Canadian Ento- mologist" for publication and then to revise the descriptional

*) 1 refer the student to my inoni»i>;rai)li of the Sphiii^iihic of Cuha published by the Eutomok)j>-ii'aI Society of Phihxdelitiiin, Au.^^lst, ISfin. Extra copies of this (with the Plates colored and uiy family crest on the title pajt^e) are now very rare. This paper, written in my twenty third year, was fcdlowed by a Synonymical Cataloo-ue of North American Spliin- gidae, including Mexican and West Indian species and a Plate, l)y my- self and Mr. (". T. Robinson, in which the synonymy of our species (whiidi liad been mainly taken by Clemens from the British Museum List?) was •uiginally investigated. Also to i)apers in the Lyceum Annals. New York: and, later, in the Bulletin of the Bulfalo Society of Natural Sciences.

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16

part of my work by the light of Professor Fernahl's researches, which were so extremely valuable from the new charac^ters used and which often vindicated my pi'evious generic sepa- rations. So completed, the work is here ottered to the student. Tt eml)ra(^es a few forms not occurring in New England and, although not so full in its account of the species and groups, may not be without sufficient interest as to warrant its issue as a work of reference.

The Splii)>(/i(hir are a highly organized and specialized assend)lage of Moths or Night Butterflies, having smooth, hairless larvae and seem to me an outgrowth of a spinose or bristly haired larval grouii, the posterier spine or caudal horn being developped ])r(d)ably from one or more spines or bristles, the base of which has been prolonged and stitfened by deposits of chitiue. in form and structuie 1 believe they are neai'est related to the ('rrafocaiiijiindr a subfamily of BomhjicKhic, and separated from allied Haturnian genera (such as Hrnnlt'ttr(i) by myself and Mr. Kobinson in 18()(). The SnicrinfliiiKic are probably descendants of thecddest forms of the Sj)JiiiHii(l((t'. On one side they may have given off the higher series, (^liocnK'tinipiiHic, Mdfroi/IossiiHic, on the other to the lower, SjiliitniiiKtc, Arlicnntfiiiar. The anal liorn is a simi)le thin black spinule in Dnjontnipa riihicHudu, the lowest foi'iu of ('ff(ih)C(n>ij)iii(i(\ stouter and more developped in th'^ higher Anisofa s/ifpiui, and becoming, with the entire armature, complex and well developped in the higher genera of the subfamily such as Cithcfonia, Sphiiuiianiijxt, Kavlcs. The bristles are gradually lost as the caudal horn became variedly formed. The pupation is similar, beneath the sur- face, without cocoon, an unusual one in the Ihni/lii/rcs or Spinners. Very interesting is the discarding of the larval horn in the later stages in certain genera of Hawk Moths and the substitution therefore of a raised ocelloid spot. That it should occui; in two grape-feeding genera Thi/rc/is and J*liiIfi,ii))('J/(s, warrants me in associating the two gi'oups in which it happens. The i)oint of my arrangement in fact lies in considering the (liocronniijiii/ar as next to the Ma- cnuilossitxtc and following them by the Siitfrin/hinac, to which

17

I give a central position. I find among tlie North American genera evidence from which I follow this latter group with the SphimjhKU-, terminating the family with the Avhcrontinne, a tribe not found in the New World. It will be seen that I do not agree with my friend Butler that the Cnsi<inae are at all nearly related to the present group. With the Hepi- aJiiKw (from which I sei)arate them Avhile Packaid keeps the two together) I believe the Goat Moths to be very low liomhi/crs and Butler himself points out antennal features which warrant this view of their structure. I should not consider the resemblance between my genera Frirmoxi/sfKs and Jj'pisps'ia as being more than casual.

When coal was being formed, there were probably already differentiated the progenitors of modern Butterflies und Moths, nocturnal creatures, obscurely colored and banded, perhaps with ariuatic larvae and active pupal state, living in those literally darker days of the world's past. The gayer tints came in their endless diversity with the daylight and the flowers, probably differentiating comparatively rapidly. From the Moths, the Day Butterflies proceeded, under certain con- ditions and in certain localities. So far we may be safe with our imaginative science; but, when we come into the region of exact details, we are at fault, the story of all this development can only be guessed at, traced by the steps which have been impressed on the structure and ornamen- tation of the larvae and perfect insects. Probably whole families have become extinct; in the North American FnJpo- Jiesperidne are the few survivors of such an extinct assem- blage, lying between Castnia and the lowest Butterflies. With the Lepidopfcra, as with all life, there has been the same remoulding force at work, but these frail creatures seem to have escaped, by their very lightness, some of the grinding processes of time and circumstance. According to Scudder, a specimen belonging to the Sphiiiuidac has been found in amber : I have seen no mention of other fossil remains of this group. This group of Moths must have been influenced by flowers in their developuient to a large extent. Tiie dis- tribution of Butterflies nnd Moths is assisted by wind currents

3

18

and rivers, by valleys and by plains sheltered by trees. It is impeded by mountains, deserts and the ocean. We have, in North America, essentially one and the same general Fauna, until we reach the Tropical Insular Fauna already colonized in South Florida, and, in the west, the Tropical Continental Fauna which stretches upward from Mexico into Texas and the South West Territories, while, on the high lands of Mexico, it is probable that members of our Tempe- erate Fauna drift down. Yet the Rocky Mountains, the back-bone of our continent, has influenced a West Coast fauna which, in several cases, has preserved more features of the former Arctic fauna from which the European is also descended. There is a constant iiux of species from South to North during the Summer of the year and in this way we have received many tropical visitors whose foothold in our colder climate is more or less precarious and uncertain. The question of wintering comes up, which these summer insects are not accustomed to discuss and cannot practically solve. Hence the Cotton Moth (Alofia argilJncen), notwith- standing all its ravages, does not hibernate successfully over most of its territory : the line of its successful hibernation not having been ascertained as yet and this point in its Natural History, so necessary for the Practical Entomologists to knew, is neglected in the Eeports I have yet seen. The larvae of the Sphinriidac have not yet received a comparative study, although most of them are known; the descriptions should be drawn up commencing with the thoracic segments 1—3; then abdominal 4 — 12; the head should be described by itself; mere descriptions, however full, without comparisons are tiresome and hard to undeistand.

At mid-day the Bee Hawks, HenKiris, may be taken on flowers as well as probably all the Macroglossians with entire wings such as Lcpiscsia. Those with angulated wings, Amphion and Tlnjreus, also in the dusk of evening. I have taken also the higher genera of the following tribe, Deilcjthiln, FhilamjH'his in the day, but the Snu'rinfhini and Sji/ii)i(/i)ii are crepuscular and nocturnal in their habit, so far as I know without exception. There is then a correlation between

19

habit and structure and tlie liij^lier, cocoon-making forms, have a tendency to overstep the usual behavior ot tlie Hctrrocera and become day-tliers. Few occupations are so attractive to the collector of Lepidoptera as the study of Hawk Moths, from the size and beauty of the specimens. Comi)arative studies are now needed; lenothy and detailed descriptions of the different stages are scattered by various hands in our literature, but they are undigested and to a certain extent unused, if not in themselves useless.

As compared with the Hawk Moths of other Continents, the North American species suggest several points of interest. And first, the ancestry and origin of the group may not un- likely be determined in our fauna, as I have pointed put, by the study of such oldfashioned Moths as are our Dryocani- pians. The somewhat i-emarkable larva of AtrcHs plc})<'iHs, found by me on Staten Island on the common Lilac, a cultivated shrub, first led me to a suggestion of this origin taken in connection with the larvae of Dri/ocawpa, Anisota, of which T found thi-ee species on oak, and of Fades, which I found on horse-chestnut. Already in 1865, I venture (Sphingidae of Cuba, p. o) to make some generalizations on this head and subsequent studies have only confirmed my belief that in North America are survivals of older groups of Lepidoptera to be found, which will throw light upon the genealogy of the present families. I draw attention on that occasion to the larva of Cerahmia, and the late Benj. D. Walsh, who wrote me some interesting letters at a later date, has made some valuable remarks on the structure of the larva of Sp]iin(jicampa. although his breeding experiments on this species, hicolor, were defectively conducted as, years ago, I fully explained. Later writers often overlook papers issued some years back, a piece of inexcusable inattention.

When we study the general distribution, it is seen that the higher groups are rather fuller and better represented in the Old World; while the gray, moth-like Sphiuijinae maintain in the Ncav World a larger number of forms.- As compared with the Asiatic, our representation of the family is more sombre-hued. owing to tlie absence of a number of

^

20

brilliantly colored Cliorrorainjiiiiac inhabiting tli63 Himalayan region. The Cliorrommpindc are, also, the swiftest tliers and widest wanderers, with their [jointed bodies and beautifully curved, sharply outlined wings. As Europe is visited by the celebrated Oleander Hawk and Dri/rpliihi crlvrio, which come from Africa, so we receive from the West Indies the visits of the Blue and Green Hawk, Anjeux, and the Wandering Bee Hawks, AcJhpos, those '-JMother Cary's Chickens" among the i\Ioths. In North America the Smvrinthhae are repre- sented by several beautiful species belonging to the more typical, ocellated group; both CaJasifniho/Hs and I'aotiim are exceedingly richly colored and here the advantage is with the American, when conipar(;d witli the foreign species be- longing to this northern group. As a survivor of a former Arctic fauna, we have, in California, a Smcrinthnu related to the European (nrlJafiis. But the less typical genera ot the group, with unocellated secondaries, are feebly represented with us; of our two genera and species Cn's.soi/id Jui/Jdndis is the only peculiar American form. In the Sphiitfiii/dc the series of genera are more peculiarly American; tlie number of gray and blackish speci^is recalling the Noctnidae in ap- pearance is noticeable. In Europe, the numerous species of Bcilcphila are the remarkable features of the fauna; we have only two, both borrowed from thence, survivors of an extinct boreal representation of the family.

In the present work I mention the species inhabiting the Middle States, having in particular the State of New York under consideration, wdiere most of my studies (either at Buffalo or the country about the CUty of New York) were conducted. As to the Florida Colony of tropical species, or the West Coast fauna of which I know but little, an account is given in other papers, the species being enume- rated in my list above alluded to. My only synonym in tliis Family (and it might be well if my critics could show so clean a record) is Lepisesia vicforine from California, which is said to be Boisduval's Pferogon Clarhiae, a species I do not know. But my description was excusable since I was led to expect a species with angulated wings and resembling

21

Abbot's figure of P. (iaurac in Boisdiivars insect, certainly not a Lcpiscsia, an insect reseniblint? our Eastern L. flnro- f((Kri(ifii. y\y type in Cambridge Museum must be examined and compared at the first opportunity. In the meantime I have here brought my work on this family to a final conclusion, having gone again over the literature and ex- pressed my definite opinion as to the structure, generic cate- gories, synonymy and nomenclature of the species discussed.

22

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Classification.

VK

Urdi'i liC'pldoptorai. Butterflies ami 3Iotlis.

S<'al.V-winge(l Insects liiiving the maxillae or inoutli parts soldered together so as to form a tube, through which tiuid food is sucked in by exhaustion; this spiral tongue is rolled up between the palpi. Wings four, in some females rudi- mentary; venation simple, consisting of two central veins and their Uauches, with a dorsal vein or veins belonging in reality to th(> median series: a median cell: no true cross- veins : the wings with f' inges, wide and usually large in proportion to the tody, furnished sometimes with folds and pouches: the scales laid shingle-like, overlapping: the presence of perfumed scales (Duftschuppen) has been discovered by Fritz ^I filler in certain males. Body divided into three parts, head, thorax and abdomen ; tegument scaled or haired, rather soft; legs ]<mg and slender, often with tufts; the tibiae often spinose, clawed, furnished with a foliate epiphysis or swollen and shoitened. Metamorphosis complete ; pnpa co- vered with an unyielding crust preventing all movement of appendages, with or without cocoon or silken attachments.

Series!. Rliopulocera. Day Butterflies, Butterflies.

This diurnal series need not detain us here and I would merely refer to my "Classification", in which I show the presence in North Ameiica of older types. Such an older type, synthetic as embracing characters of both series, is the Taleohi'spcridac m., a Family regarded by me as of equal value to the Hcspcridac or FapUionidnc. Under the name Castnioidcs, the type is shown by Prof. Riley to be a Butterfly; when I first examined it, the spinose legs led me to regard it as a Castniid after Walker. I believe to

■

2B

have (lis('()V('i'<Ml a similar case in the iioinlucid (^)iiiiilri)iti lUdzrmti. I (k'scrilxMl this Moth in I'iipilio 1, 175, ('((inpariii)^ it with <'itlic>-(»)i(i and (ilnrcria. I only know the tV'niaU'; when the male ;in<l larva are known, my classiHration of the moth amoiij; my ('rrafocKnipiinir, will he tested. But the moth has pectinate antennae which serm to ditl'er fi-om this gronp. Kor this and other reasons, I hidieve we have to do with an external feeder, representinj? an ancient complex, havinj.? the (diaracters of ditferent f,n'i»iips (d' the lower liom- byces iind. as I say, "structurally remote frum any described United States genus/- From such slender material 1 may be wrong to di'aw a decided comdusion. but 1 have long been of th(! opinion that wi; should find older existing types in North America than elsewhere and 1 mentioned this to my kind friend and ex(dlent lepidopterist Mr. Arthur <l. Hiitlei-. when 1 last had the pleasure of seeing him and studying the unrivalled collection of fhiwhifcidar in the Hiitish xMuseum. For it is in the HdhiIijii itluc that we must expect Just such discoveries in the Moths. We have certainly the oldest type of Butt(!i-Hy now surviving in our J'd/i'olif's/icrn/ar. And this type tends to biidge the gap between the two series, so that Ave can feel more certain that the primitive type of the Order Avas a Moth, and that the ButterHies are a later development keeping pace with the flowers and the sunlight.

Series II. Heterueera. Night Butterflies, Moths.

I refer to my original paper (187;{) on the differences between the Butterflies and Moths. This does not lie so much in the structure of the antennae as in their position. In the Butterflies they are more uniform in length and type, more rigid, directed upward: in the moths more varied, flex- able, directed backward along the plane of the body, more susceptible to impressions. The eyes, although functionally incomplete and many-facetted, are probably of greater use to the Butterflies than to the Cloths ; in the daytime, no less than at night, the Moths depend more on the antennae, as may be seen by the quivering motion of these organs

:!|

24

before taking fliglit. I liave seen these fundamental distinc- tions stated by no otlier author. The rigidity and uniformity of the antennae in the Butterflies point to a decrease of functional use.

Joined to such diverse antennae, the extremes of which I liave given as represented by HcpiaJus and AdeJa, we have a great diversity in size and shape among the Moths as compared with the Butterflies. Tiie tiniest Tineid is no larger than the diameter of the eye of the Great Gray Banded Owlet, Tlnj^ania, from the Brazils. The wings are various in color but especially in outline; they have clear spots, looking like holes, Attacns, Apntelodes, Selenia, or nearly scaleless, Sesia, Houaris. In this latter the scales are present on leaving the pupa, and hence this may be a more recent form. The wings are entire but again are ragged and broken in api)earance ; in one group they are rayed. As the Fi/ralidnc and lower families have more than two dorsal or internal veins on secondaries, a section has been separated under the name of Microlepidoptom, as con- trasting with all the rest, known as Macrohpidoptrra. But the present classification into two Series by Boisduval and Dumeril, seems to be both sufficient and natural. I have found some American Pi/ralidac with only two internal veins, so far as I could see. The Moths farther contrast by their more woolly, tufted or hairy bodies, their nocturnal habit and a number of details adaptive to their mode of life. Most interesting are the American genera Sphida and Ar;;ama among the Owlet Moths, the larvae of which, as discovered by my friend Prof. Comstock, are aquatic in their habit, re- calling the previously known Pyralid genus Catachjsta in this respect. The presence of a frenulum and hook on the wings further cliaracterizes most moths. In the males the frenulum, arising from the costae of hind wings at base, is simple. In the following Family of Moths, the large size, and rapid flight has given them a position in the front rank. The first division into groups, as now adopted, will be found in my Sphingidae of Cuba, pp. 17 — 18 (1805).

mm

25

Family Sphingidae.

Aii};li4*c: Hawk Moths.

Oize moderate to very hws^e: wings narrow, primaries long, secondaries short: fremilum ]>resent : fringes sliort : vesti- ture close: tnfting-s. excei)t in tlie tir.st tribe, wanting: ab- domen long, heavy, the segments usually armed, tuberculate orspinose: head i)rominent; eyes large and naked, sometimes lashed; no ocelli: antennae prismatic: labial i>alpi stout: tongue very variable in length but usually long: ilight some- times diurnal, usually cre[)uscular, sometimes nocturnal.

We have originally proposed ( \^V)'}\ the European genera Mdcrof/lossd. with the type sfdUifdriDii, ('/Kicrnrtnii/Ki, with the type porcclliis, Snirrin/li/is, with the tyi)e ocrl/afa, and Butler follows with Ar/irroiz/la. with the type nfnipos. as typical of the five (o) gi-oups into whicdi the whole family may be divi(h'd. As far as we have seen, the extra-Kui'opean genera may be arranged under these headings.

Snl)fan)ily Macroglossinae.

AiiK:li('4>: IJee Hawk Moths.

Wings shorter than usual; abdomen wider and Hatter with caudal tufts: tliglit often diurnal ; pupation on the surface in a slight v/eb ot silk. Food plants, in preference, }'iljin;tHtti,

IfeiiiariN. Dalmau.

Head small, but not sunken, tongue as long as the body. AnteriUae clavate witli terminal bent seta, bicijiate in male.

■

J

simple in female ; body smooth ; Avings largely vitreous, the dear spaces on emergence from the pupa thinly spread with glittering scales which tall on using the wings ; body smoothly scaled.

•

Subgenus Hemaris.

The typical group is colored black and yellow with a red apical stain on forewings on the terminal black band. Type: H. fHciformis.

Tenuis. Grote. The smallest species with the wings full, without or with a hardly perceptible apical stain on terminal band which is narrow and rrrn on its inner edge. P^astern and Middle States and Canada. June, July. Larva on yil)iin/)i)ii. I found the larva on Sipiiphoricarjnis, plenti- fully in the old Catholic burying ground at Buffalo, green with purple black venter and legs, witli a rough yellow crest on first segment; it appears to differ by the absence of a dorsal shade from that of (liffii/is.

mninis, i^oisd, A little stouter, the apical stain marked, the inner edge of the band finely dentate on inter- spaces. IVIore southerly in its range. May to August. Lnna on Bush Honeysuckle, Snowberry, Feverwort. (Fernald.)

Iflarfjciiialiiii. Grote. Still lai'ger, with the dentation prominent, as also the apical stain. Ohio, southwardly. I figure the differences between these species in the Buffalo Bulletin. The Jarra is not knowm.

Axillaris. G. a. R. The dentations are here unequal and very deep, the red apical stain extends downwardly over the nervules as an edging to the band. Ohio to Texas. The specific value of these forms has not been fully proven, nor the young stages compared.

Subgenus Chamaesesia. (4r.

<iira<*iliN. G. a. R. Resembles somewhat the European Iionih}//ifor»ns, the band being of a brown tint. '^^Phe fore- wings are bordered by brown above, beneath paler, with

27

white edging to the band within ; hindwings crossed b}' firr veins over the transparent disc, beneath with a yelh)w band at anal angle. June-July. Eastern and Middle States, Can. Rarer than the other species.

Subgenus Haemorrhag'ia. Gr.

The thorax is more produced in front than in the first groups and the body stouter, colors claret red and olive.

Thj^ibe. Fabr. {PchmjH^ Cram.). Forewings with the border claret brown or red, without apical stain ; cell of primaries Avith a bar in middle ; edge witliin of terminal band dcvtalc Can., S(juthwardly. ]\Iay to Aug. Larra on VihiirnHiii. A dimorphic form, rniforniis, G. a. R., has the band rrr;? .• the larva is described by Edwards and Eliot.

Biilt'aloi'iiMi^. G. a. R. Smaller than the preceding: the cell has the bar fused with median vein : margin of tei'minal band rrcii. Larva on Vih/innnn (ReineckeK June. New York. Considered by some writers not distinct from preceding, but the young stages have not been compared. Prof. Lintner describes the larva and considers the species distinct.

N. B. This genus is incorrectly called "Sesia" by some Authors, a name belonging to a different group as used by German writers and approved by Fernald. It is also merged with Macrofilos.ia, the tyi)e of which is sffllnfarum and a number of Old AVorld forms : against this practice I have protested from the very first of my studies.

I.<eiiiKei»ia. Grote.

Head somewhat sunken into the short and s(iuare thorax : the evenly margined wings are entirely scaled. Primaries with eleven veins, somewhat centrally depressed on costa Legs comparatively long and slender: fore tibiae si)iuose. Flight diurnal. Larra unknown.

FlfivofaNointa. liarnst. Head and thorax pale yellow, palpi black, yellowish beneath ; abdomen black, first segment

n

't

J

28

above yellow as also the tenuiiial lateral tufts. Forewings blackish with a pale oblique b;ni(l : hind wiiif^s with tlie disc blight orange yellow and black borders. Can.. Eastern States, Northern New York. May — June. Very rare.

AiiipliioRi. Kubn.

Head small, but tree from thorax, tongue nearly as long as body: antennae prominently hooked at tips. Forewings excavate below ai)ex and abov(! anal angle ; hindwings with the mnrgins slightly dentate. This genus approaches in some points the tropical genus J'>'ri(/<n/i(i.

XoN>iii.s. Cram. Fore wings dull rusty brown crosst'd by a dark brown oblique band, beyond which is a line fol- lowed by shade spots of same color: hindwings dark brown with an obli(|ue reddish central band, with pale yellow fringes broken Avith brown: beneath rusty red Avith pale yellow liiteral stripe beneath the wings running from the antennae. Can southward. Very common. May to Aug. Larrff. green oi' brown, on Atn})clf>))f<is and grape and has a caudal horn wanting in the mature larva of the next genus.

Tli.yroiiK. Swains.

Head with a piominent ridged tuft above between the fuslfoi'm antennae which terminate in a long hook; thorax somewhat globular, stout, tuft<'d behind: abdomen flattened, with anal tufts pointed in the female, more spreading in the male.

Tnis genus is very distinct and somewhat isolated, Avhile it sufticiently resembles the pri^ceding. The abdomen in shape recalls the highest genera of the group.

Abhotii. Swains. Forewings very dark brown, an- gulated on outer margin, crossed by several darker dentate lines. Head wings lemon yellow with daik brown terminal band: beneath lighter colored. Ltimi gi-eenish or brown, mature with an ocellus insted of the discarded anal horn, on AnijH'Jopsis and grape. The moth is locally quite common. May to August. Canada southward.

i'

C:'^

20

Kiiyo. Hiibn.

Head i)r()nniient witli interanteiinal ridge, eyes large ; thorax heavy ; ah(h)iiien long and tapering with small terminal tnft; fore wings angulate.

Iiiig;iibriN. Linn. Elntirely dark brown, shaded with paler: the primaries with discal dot and exterior rigid line. Larr(( on Ani/H-Jfipsis and (irape. May to September, (bmble brooded in the South where it is connnon. New ^'ork to West Indies, rare in the North.

I^cidaiiiia. Chin.

Fore wings rather narrow as in Tlnfroi.--. and also an- gnlated on external margin. Head with a ridged tiit't between antennae whi(di are fusiform and hooked at tips: abdonien with a slight anal tuft : tibiae unaimed. Allieil tn preceding genera -by the tufts, the brown coloi' and shajte of iii'imaries; the angnlated geiu^'a of this tribe feed also on I'/Z/V.

IiiMoripla. Hai'ris. (Jreyish brown or reddish, the forewings crossed by three brownish bands. I'he outer mai'gin has deeper colored Innnles as in Aiii/ililoi/. Hindwings dull reddish brown with white fringes, /jtrra on Amiiflojisi-^ and grape, green with caudal horn. The moth is found from June to August. Canada to Virginia. Not couniion. No known Smerinthoid feeds on the grape.

Subfamily Choerocampinae.

.iiifrlioe: Elephant Hawk Moths.

Abdomen untufted : colors gay, often green, yellow and roseate, Avings hmg and with sliaip. often falcated tips, larva with the first segments narrow and capable of retraction; pupation sometimes in a slight cocoim on surface of ground; Food plants, in preference, VUi^, Amjx'Iopsis.

li

HO

Kveryx. Boisd. Head small with a ridged tuft between antennae which

are slender, fusiform and liooked at tii)S, strongly biciliate

in the males, simple in female. Fore and middle tibiae

spinose ; abdominal segments unarmed.

Clioeriliiw. Cram. Rusty red and fawn color, wings crossed by various shade lines and with a discal spot, beneath paler. Common. May to August. Canada southwardly, liarva on AnipcJo/isis and grape, as also on Azaleas and Sheep-berrj' ; Edwards and Eliot give Vihiirnnm.

Aiiipclophaga. Bremer.

Agrees with Ercnjx except that the tibiae are unarmed. Larva transforming in a cocoon on surface of the ground.

]?I;^'roii. Cram. Fore wings grayish green with olive green bands ; hind wings dull red. In the South ocurs vnr. Ciiotus. Hubn., with the primaries suffused and obscurely colored. May to August, (^uite conunon. Larva on Anipe- Jo2)sis and grape. Canada, southwardly.

Versicolor. Harris. A beautiful species with dark green forewings crossed by whitish lines and rust red hind- wings with grayish and greenish borders; beneath, shaded with reddish, yellow and white. May to August. Canada to Middle States. Larra on CcjJialaiiflnis, and Nesaea verfi- ciJIata. Rather rare. We are indebted to the researches of Rev. G. D. Hulst, for our knowledge of the larva.

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1

I>eiloiiclie. Grote.

Head moderate, untufted ; tongue as long the body ; thorax smooth • abdomen slender, tai)ering ; tibiae unarmed ; eyes naked, unlashed : middle tibiae with one pair of unequal spurs, hind tibiae with two pairs: wings narrow; primaries r2-veined, evenly margined, outer margin somewhat sickle- shaped.

Tersa. Linn. ForeAvings light brownish yellow or ochrey, with a smoky brown spot at base and a number

81

of fine lines extending from apices to inner niaigin, divei'ging inferiorly ; liindvvings black with a snl)tei'niinal row of wedge- sliai)ed yellowish spots. Larva on Button weed (Spermacocc (/Jahra). Rare in Canada and P^astern States, more conniion in the South ; it has at least two congeners : I>. KohiiiNoiiii, Grote, in Cuba and I>. Fal<*o, Walk., in Mexico: com- parative studies must be made with other forms referred by Butler to Clioerocawpa, a genus with European types.

]>oili>|»liila. Ochs.

Head moderate, untufted; tongue about as long as the body; antennae enlarging to tips which are "provided with a slender bristly hook: abdomen smooth, cylindrical, stout: tibiae unarmed: fore tarsi with a row of curved spines ahmg the outside : wings entiie, evenly margined.

C'liaiiiiK'iierii. Hanis. Ke))resents the European (Uili), of which it seems a variety. The American specimens differ by a warmer tint on central fascia of forewings, which fascia is not excavated inwardly at base and not so continued superiorly, while our s])ecies has a distinct apical black streak: the hind wings more i)urely roseate. Not uncommon. Canada to Middle States. In Cuba I>. <'«lverlc\vi takes its place. Larva on grape and Evening Primrose as well as Epilohium.

liiiieata. Fabr. Differs from the European Lironiira by a third, central white stripe on the tegulae and by the abdominal markings. Olive brown with a buff stripe on tore- wings from apex to base and the veins marked with white : hindwings black with a central reddish band enclosing a white spot near the margin. Very common, flying also in the middle of the day on flowers. Canada to West Indies and California. Ltirra on PortHlacra and a large number of plants, very variable in color, caudal horn yellowish and rough. May to September; double brooded.

Philaiiipeliis. Harris. Allied rather to Dcilcphila. though differently colored, the head being also more i)rominent, the tongue longer: the

abdoiiu'ii tiipcrs inor(i griuluallv and in tliis resembles Ihi- hincltr : tibiae not spinose, middle tibiae with (me pair of lung, very nneiiual spnrs, hind tibiae with two i)air, all as in Ih'iloiirJic. than which this is wider winged, heavier, dithe- ring by the cylindrical abdomen being armed on the hinder edge of the segments. In some respects the typical genus of the group; larvae on grape and Amprlopsis.

Tit In. Drury. {Jussicmic Hiibn., fasr in/us Sulz). A handsome species with bright olive green i)rimaries, displaying a pale flesh colored stripe from apex to middle of the base and crossed by a similar one from middle of hinder margin to (»uter fourth of costa ; hindwings rose red within, inter- rupted by whitish green hairs separating the rose red outer band, which is margined within by a black band; the rose colored terminal band is ended by a (piadrate brown spot and distinguishes the i)resent sj)ecies. L(irr(( on the grape. Kare in the North in -lune-July.

Uiiiiei. 0. a. li. This si)ecies, found only in the South, has been confounded with the foregoing by a number of writers and the synonymy became embroiled in conse([uence, until we tigured and described it. Daik olive green, more robust than Vifis; the bands on anterior wings are mixed with white : the V-shai)ed space on internal margin large and not enclosed on margin. Hindwings green ; a large rose-colored space on anal angle and along internal nuirgin ; a large black si)()t within : two narrow nu^dian lines : a broad subterminal black band : terminal space narrow, dull ochrey, nowhere pink and thus unlike Vifis. Both these forms are connuun in West Indies and South America where they feed on grape: the present is tigured by Cranu^r under the name I7//V.- but Drury, the A\'iener Verzeichniss, Abbot I'^c Smith and others sufticiently show what species is jiroperly included under this title. Rare, in Southern States.

Po!>itU*atiiM. Grote. Only reported from Florida. Ditt'ers from SafrUifia by its narrower shai)e and straighter external margin of the wings. Hindv,iugs with a large roseate spot on internal margin covering anal angle; a

l,«i

33

somewhat rounded blackis)i spot within ; a subterminal series of interspaceal black maculations continued distinctly to costa. General color dull olivaceous. Described by me originally from Cuba under the name Lj/caori, but differing from that species according to the British Museum collections. Food plant and larva unknown. Another West Indian species is described by me in the Bulletin of the Buifalo Society of Natural Sciences the type of which is contained in Agassiz *) Museum, Cambridge.

Panilorus. Htibn. {Satellifia Harris.) This species inhabits Canada and the Northern parts of the United States and differs speciiically from the South American P. sateUitia of Linnaeus. Pale greenish, marked with spots of rich olive green. The forewings have a large olive green spot on the middle of hind margin and a triangular spot of green rests on the hinder margin just within anal angle, while another, more ' diffuse, rests on costa a little within the apex ; the wing is crossed by various shade lines and the veins are partly marked with ochrey, a character often escaping notice. Hind wings with a dark brown spot near hind margin and

*) During the life-time of this distinguished Naturalist and most success- ful lecturer and teacher, I was invited to study the Sphingidae in the Museum, but was unable to visit Cambridge at the time. The collection there contains but two or three of my types, sent me long afterwards for study to Buffalo. My letter from Prof. Louis Agassiz was as follows :

Dear Sir!

Cambridge, Dec. 11th- 1866.

In absence of Mr. Uhler, who may however return in a few days, I cannot say whether the collection of Sphingidae and moths are likely to be sufficiently extensive in your estimation to justify you in coming to Cambridge to work them up. Meanwhile I would say that if you decide to come I shall give you every facility I can for your work. I would be glad to see that part of our collections worked up. My son has already written to you what the rules of our Museum are; so I need add nothing upon this point. Mr. Uhler could give you more accurate information than I can concerning your arrangements here.

Very respectfully yours

(Signed) L. Agassiz.

5

.^4

a band of same color witliin outer margin whicli changes into lines and black spots towards the anal angle, there being no roseate patches or bands as in other species and as we see in the species of IkUcphila. Common. May to August. Larva on grape, becoming brown at maturity, when the caudal horn of its first stages is discarded. Mr. Bunker of Rochester, N. Y., describes the larva and speaks of the number of broods.

Achenioii. Drury. This species is pinkish gray with lovely rich brown patches, much as the deep green ones in Pamhrus. Hind wings pinkish with a spotted, pinkish gray border. Larva on AmpdopKis and grape. Common and widely distributed. It is a curious fact that we have these two colors brown and green represented in the larvae and moths of so many species of Hawk Moths. This brown FhiJampdm has an ally in M'^.xico, and contrasts strongly with the numerous green species of the genus in color.

Subfamily Smerinthinae.

Anglice: Eyed Hawk Moths.

In this tribe the larvae have a cordate head and granu- lated appearance; the moths have the head usually impromi- nent; tongue short and membranous; the body clumsy and the flight heavy and nocturnal; the typical genera have ocellated hindwings. The typical genus Smerinthus is con- fined to the West coast. Food plants, in preference, Bosaceae.

Calasyiubolus. Grote.

Head small and sunken, more or less tufted between the antennae, in some species marked like a ridge; labial palpi short; segments of abdomen and tibiae unarmed. Forewings with the external margin even and more or less angulated not dentated.

35

a. Antennae of the male biciliated ; tibiae unarmed. Subgenus ('(iJ(is!fnihoIi(,s. Gr.

ANtyliiN. Drury. Our liandsomest species, of a lovely rosy brown or cinnamon color, sutfused with lilac: the tints recalling those prevalent in certain Saturnians or Juniohiidar. Forewings but slightly angulated, with a purplish shade on internal margin and crossed by faint darker lines; a yellow spot at anal angle; hindwings ochre yellow, shading into rosy brown outwardly and a round black ocellus with a blue pupil rests on the wing near anal angle. Rare. June, July. Larra on Swamp Blueberry (Vacvinium). Canada to Middle States.

9l.yoi»N. Abbot a. Sm. This species lias the forewings more angulated and is a little slighter while of the same expanse. The wings are choccolate brown, darker and con- fusedly marked by lines and shades; hindwings yellow margined with brown and with a black, blue ].n]tilled ocellus near anal angle. Larni on Uosacca, (Apple, Plum andCherry). More frecpient than Asfi/his. Canada to Southern States. Single brooded. June, July.

b. Fore tibiae with a terminal spine. Subgenus CajrismfrinthHS. Or.

CeriNii. Kirby. This is a larger species than (ichii- vatiis; very rare and inhabiting Canada and the Northern States. The foreAvings are grey with wavy brown lines; hindwings dull rosy red in the middle and bordered all round with dull clay yellow and there is a black spot connected with the anal angle, on the hinder part of the red, con- taining a horse-shoe shaped spot of blue, the open part to- wards anal angle. In the next species this spot is chuhle. May, June. Larva unknown.

c. Male antennae bipectinate; tibiae unarmed. Subgenus Eusmerintkus. Gr.

Oeminatus. Say. Gray, with a faint rosy tint, the forewings crossed by an angulated brown line followed by

i

j

36

If

a brown shade and this by several indistinct wavy lines; a lunule of brown edged with white at anal angle ; hind- wings rosy with gray borders and having a large black spot with two blue spots on it near anal angle. Occasionally a third hhie spot appears on the black (var. trlpartltusi, Gr.) and sometimes but a single spot is found {rar. Jaiiiaivensiis, Drury). Lnrra on llosaceae, also on Willow. Not common. Single brooded, the moth appearing in June, July. Can. to Middle States. Drury's locality, if his indifferent figure re- presents our species, is incorrect. This species with others of this group brings forward the anterior margin of the hind wings in a state of rest. In this position the lovely C. asfylus looks like a crumpled leaf.

PaoniaH. Htibn.

Head small and sunken with a prominent ridged tuft between the antennae; tongue membranous, no longer than palpi ; antennae fusiform, biciliate in males, hooked at the end; thorax short; abdomen long, cylindrical, tapering, seg- ments unarmed ; tibiae unarmed ; forewings regularly scalloped on terminal margin.

£xcaecatus. Abb. a. Sm. Rich brown and fawn color, forewings crossed by sinuous brown lines ; hindwings rosy red, with a black spot containing a blue center, bordered with fawn color, with a yellowish patch before anal angle. Common. June, July. Can. to Southern States. Lnrra on Bosaceae, Apple, Plum, Cherry etc., also on a variety of forest trees.

O^^ssonla. G. a. E.

Head small and isunken in thorax; f'^rm slender, that of the males recalling the American Bombycid genus Apate- lodes; palpi slim, divaricating at tip; abdomen slender, seg- ments unarmed, with small anal tufts in male ; all the tibiae armed with spinules; wings with the outer margins dentate.

Juglandis. Abb. a. Sm. Pale grayish fawn; fore- wings crossed by brown lines, the females paler colored; hindwings concolorous with wavy brown lines across the

37

middle; uiiocellated. Larva on Walnut and Ironwood. Not common. June, July. Canada to Southern States. Varies in depth of color, sometimes with a light purplish reflection; distinguished by its slender form and bombyciform appearance; structurally it is nearest to Paonias.

Triptogon. Bremer.

Stout and sphingifonn ; head small and sunken : fore tibiae with a spine at extremity of the joint; tibiae else unarmed ; surface of abdomen si>inose beneath the scales ; antennae fusiform without terminal hook, biciliate in males, simple in females. This genus prepares us for the following Sphinginae.

Hodesta. Harris. This large moth is of a slaty gray with darker olivaceous bands and shadings on primaries ; hindwings with a dusky roseate central i)atch. Lana on Poplar and Cotton wood. June to August. Canada to Southern States (Cnhlei) where the larva is said to feed on water plants. Not rare. A variety Occidentallsi occurs in the West.

I

Subfamily Sphinginae.

.(

Anglice: Typical Hawk 3Ioths.

Large, usually gray and blackish species with well developed tongue and entire wings with internervnlar sub- terminal dashes on primaries. Larva pupating in the earth; flight crepuscular or nocturnal. Food plants, in preference, Solenaceae, Syrinya.

C^raioniia. Harris.

The horned larva, feeding on elm, allies the moth to the preceding genus and the soft brown colors of the imago are Smerinthoid. Also the head is small, somewhat sunken as in pre- ceding group. Abdomen heavy, tapering, the segments armed on

li

' i

38

hinder edge ; tibiae not spinose ; antennae fusiform and ending in a small hook: foi-ewings nearly entire, with a slight ex- cavation at vein 2: all the characters show approximations to the Smcrhitliiiuw and warrant this arrangement of the family.

Ainyntor. Hiibn. (Qimdricornis Harr.) Soft brown and whitish gray, apin-oaching in its pale colors succeeding genera: forewings shaded with soft brown and crossed by gatherings of triple brown lines; hind wings clay color, shaded with brown ; the fringes brown, cut with pale yellowish. Lnrrn with the granulated appearance of preceding group. Common. Canada to ]\[iddle States. May to August, perhaps usually double brooded in southerly localities. In Buifalo, N. Y., larvae of the second brood failed to mature before the cold came.

l>arciuiiia. Walk.

Head small and sunken; antennae fusiform, with small hook ; abdomen cylindrical and tapering, the segments armed as in (Wutontia, tibiae not spinose. Larva without horns on thoracic segments.

Undulofna. Walk. [I'cponi'nint^ Clem.). Gray, mixed with yellowish scales ; forewings crossed by pairs of darker, wavy or angulated lines ; hind wings darker, smoky brown, with the fringes Avhite cut with brown. TMrra on lilac, ash and })i-ivet. Not rare. Canada to Middle States. June August. In the South are allied species: Hu)!;oiii« Grote, in Texas; Catalpac, Hoisd., in Georgia and Florida. The trop'.cai genus Sy~y(}ia, (t. a. R., is related.

I

l>i India. G. a. R.

Larger and stouter, with the tliorax more produced anteriorly: antennae fusiform, with slight terminal booklet; abdomen cylindrical, the segments armed; wings entire, ex- cavate above anal angle; rough gray species with darker secondaries. Bnmtes of Drury, recognised by me from Cuba, belongs here.

89

Jasiiiincai'iiiii. Boisd. a, Lee. Size large, gray: tlie forevvings crossed by wavy lines, and witli darker, brown shadings, and smoky brown, shaded secondaries. Rarely found in Middle States; Long Island (Hulst); not conunon in the South and one of the rarer species of the family.

l>olba. Walk.

A smaller form than those with which it is here associ- ated, yet agreeing in some respects with Baremma and standing between it and Phh'(f('t/i,vifiii}<; the head is small, though free, and roughly scaled ; the tongue longer than the body. The abdomen is somewhat conical and peculiar in shape : the segments armed with round spinules : the tibiae unarmed ; the thorax approaches by its shape that of PhhujcthoniiHS, and in colors the single species has a slight resemblance to F. r'tsHca.

HjlaeiiK. Drury. (Priiii Abb. a. Sm.) Dark rusty brown : thorax white on the sides : abdomen with a row of lateral white spots: beneath white: forewings dark rusty brown, with a white spot at base and one on disk, crossed by dark brown lines and with an apical white shading: hindwings dark smoky brown crossed bj- two dentate white * lines : fringes checkered, white and brown. Lana on Ilr.r, Papaw (Asi)iiiiiia friloixt), perhaps (Scudder) on Sweet Fern. Not rare in certain localities. Canada to Gulf States, rather more usual in the South. June, July.

Plilcji^ctlioiitiiiN. Hlibn. Large species of an iron gray color Avith large, brightly colored spots on the side of the abdomen, yellow <»r rose color; tlie species are Southern except P. rvh'iis: it is prol)able that the European cinn-ohidi b >ngs here and not to the gentis Sphinx. Thorax with p;.rt, jlored metathoracic tufts. The iongiie exceeds the body : the head ^s prominent, large; eyes salient; antennae fusifoi-m ending in a slight seta; abdomen with the segments armed with round spinules; tibiae unarmed: \\ings ample, entire. Lana with a thick caudal horn, pupating in the grouiul; iiapa with the ton'^ue

\ \

J f

40

case separate, "like a jug-hanule." There is a certain resem- blance between this and the next genus to the Acherontinae, an Old World group, and this in all stages.

Kustiea. Fabr. (Chionanfhi Abh. r. Sm.). Very large, the primaries shaded with deep brown ; abdomen with yellow spots ; a handsome species, found only occasionally outside of the Southern States ; reported to me from Ohio and Kentucky, also New Jersey.

Carolina. Linn. "Tobaco worm." Dark gray, the wii'gs crossed by a number of wavy, indistinct lines; a white spot at base of forewings and one edged with dark scales on disc ; hindwings gray, with a basal smoky spot, crossed by three darker lines and with smoky borders ; ab- domen with five dark yellow spots, surrounded with black. Larva on Solenaceae (Tobaco, etc.). Common ; double brooded. West Indies, northward to Canada.

Celeu.«>i. Hiibn. {(^arolina Harr.). "Tomato \\ irm." This is rather heavier than preceding and more common at the North, I have not seen it from the Gulf States. It is paler colored, more cinereous or ashen; forewings with the lines more evident: hind Avings quite pale crossed by two strongly dentated lines over the middle, a curved line • within and a smoky spot at base of winp": abdomen with five dark yellow spots as in preceding species (hence the name '>-macidnta, under which this form was described by English authors). Common, double brooded. Larva green and brown in color, on Solenaceae, especially Tomatos, also on Datura and Tobaco. Canada southward.

Ciiigulata. Fabr. Much stouter than the European ConvaJvidi and shaded with brighter roseate. Very dark gray; the thorax behind distinctly shaded with blue and yello^',' over the metathoracic tufts. Hind wings shaded with ros3 color and live rose colored spots, somewhat squarer than usual, adorn the abdomen, separated by black bands. Not so common as the preceding. West Indies, northward to Canada. Larva on Convolvulus, Sweet Potato and al> on Solenaceae.

*

41

ib-

on

Atreus. Grote.

Smaller and approaching SpJiinx in appearance ; the head prominent; ej'es salient: antennae slender at tip where they are bent; fore tibiae spinose as (according to Fernald) are those of P. ceJf'Ks. The type is, I think, not congeneric with the European Piuaftfri, nor can I find an Hubnerian genus for its reception; I should leave it in PhlciietJionfius, as Fernald f^ecms to suggest, but it ditfers in the 12- veined primaries, the want of an antennal seta, in the fusion of the tongue-case in t^-p pupa and in the general style of markings no less than in the sti'ucture of the labial palpi. Seqnoiap, Boisd., may belong to Hi/Jniais and be congeneric with the European J'inasfri, which this is not.*)

PU'boiuN. Fabr. Forewings gray, witl' a white discal spot ringed with black, heavy black dashes between the veins and .crossed by faint, partly incomplete lines. Hind- wings dark smoky brown, grayish towards base and on the anal angle : fringes brown and white. Lonn som.ewhat rough with a caudal horn curving only towards its tip, blue, with irregular black tubercles: the caudal horn will be found to play an important part in the classification, as it \aries so much in length and api)earance. It rises from the top of the hind segment and is a prolongation of the skin itself, stifiened by chitine. It is sometimes discarded, replaced by an eye-spot. It is very curious in this species and there is a slight approach to Ac/irroiifia. Afrcxs pJcheixs, feeds on Trumpet Creeper (Fernald) md Si/rinaa, where I have found it. The moth appoaches the section of Sj)lii)/:r called by Butler Liutmrin, but dift'ers much more strongly in structure. We have, then, in Eastern North America no equivalent to the European Ihiloicu,^ pinai^fri. A second species of Afreus probably occurs in Cuba, described bv myself, but I have now no types to compare.

*) I liave used tor study larvae of the European Pinastri, beauti- fully prepared according to tlie method explained by Karl Wingeluuiller In his interesting liook: Der Kivfer- und Sthnietterlings-Saniniler, Magde- burg. Croutz'scho Verlagshandlung.

6

•^fmrmsmmK

«■!

42

EMeiiia. CUemens.

Head small and somewliat depressed, but not sunken as in Snicriufhus, wliicli tliis genus approaches in its Bombyci- form look : the wings liowever are entire, Sphingiform ; the tongue is sliort and membranous, but it differs in the j'oung stages by having no caudal hoin and the head not being heart- shaped ; according to Fernald "tlie young larva has a round head (of amifcranfui) but it changes at the first moult to an angular form running up to a sharj) point at top." In ornamentation this genus differs bj^ the immaculate abdomen, also a Smerinthoid character, but the pattern of primaries is like the en^ueing Sphhuiinac, having longitudinal streaks on the interspaces. \\'e may say that the wings are those of a , ,''■">' the body of a Smoriuthns. A letter from Dr. Clemens. 'hI in 1865, and explaining his reasons for des- cribing thk, genus, is before me as 1 noAV write. From the first, I liave kept Klhiiia, as a genus, distinct. From the habit of the larva and its feeding on Pines, it has always been approached to Hijloiais, but the immaculate abdomen at once excludes it, no less than the sliort maxillae. It is now referred to the Snierintlni/af h\ Fernald, but the larva does not seem to me to be that of a Smerinthoid form. I regret not to have material now before me and I am writing from old notes on the species, which I have seen, all but honihifcoiUfs (this from a figure). It struck me that they were very near and jjossibly only variations of a single form, the conifry(iyn)n of Abbot a. Smith. Prof. Fernald, ai)parently on Mr. Thaxter's authority (a most excellent one), considers honiltjfroidfs and Harrisii as forms of one species. Prof. Fernald further distingui-^b^s couifcrdrHni, while he does not allude to pincHni of Lintn;^', a New York species, but, if valid, certainly not confined to New York, which State be- longs to southern New England so far as the Lepidopterous fauna is concerned, its northeastern portion, in its fauna, to Eastein Canada. This genus is evidently of wide distri- bution and distinctively North American. For the present I leave further discussion of the species. The genus itself niiglit' inaugurate the jtresent group if my an-angement of

43

'.I

the family is retained, but I prefer to regard it (with Ere- (Iriinn) as more related to Sphinx proper; in any event it marks the approach of the two groups Spliii/fiitHK and Smcr'nithuxit' and thus favors my idea that the latter group has given rise to the former as well as to the ('liofrocfntipiiHh'. Without material at hand for dissection. T am not willing, from what I know now. to accept my fiiend's view that Elh'UKi is a Smerinthoid genus. The central position I give the Smer'nitliiiuic, expresses my idea that the other groups may have arisen from its ancestors: while at present its members are on the whole perhaps nearer the (.'hocrovampinac than the Sphiiujinac

Sphinx. Linn.

The tyjie of this genus is originally held liy me to he the Euro])ean >'. liffiisfri, and hence the genus is synonymous with Lf(lii(( of Hubner. The head is prominent : tongue about as long as the body : pali)i moderate ; general tbrm slighter than in P/iJcf/ff/ioittiKs. Abdomen tapei'ing to a point, banded and marked with white, less prominently nuirked than in Fhlcf/cfhoHfiiis; Larrae smooth, with ovate head, caudal horn usually straight and pointed: juipn in the ground, tlight generally crepuscular. This genus contains i)erhaps the typical species of the family, but not the highest in structure and habit. The more compact sha[»e, diurnal tlight, and surface pupation of M(icro<ih>ssinac and Cltof'ror(ni>))iif(i)' seem to accord them this position. The European S. lif/n.-^lri has a sutfused roseate tint reminding one of the rosy species of Pli/('(/('fli<ii//iiis: none of (mr species have this, but hi.^vilinsd in one sex at least, has a decided yellowish tinge. The value of the genus encreases in North America, the species being comparatively numerous and the ^^'est producing forms of snuill size but great beauty, as the well known S. FAsa of Strecker. 'J'he intersi)aceal black da^iiHs on primaries constitute the tvpical ornamentati> n of this subfanulv.

Abb. a. Sm. Head and thorax

I>riii»iferaruiii.

I meeting in front over the tips of the palpi; fore

lack with a light gray stripe along the side

wings dark

fi

■Hi

r

44

brown, with the costa striped with light gray and the outer border of same shade, crossed bj^ oblique blackish wavy lines, while there is a series of interspaceal subterminal black dashes, the discal spot itself being a fine black line ; the hindwi: gs are dark brown, whitish at base, having also a narrow wliitish median stripe and pale border; fringes brownish. A connnon species. Canada southwardly. Larva on Plum, Apple and several smaller shrubs such as Privet and Lilac, May, August.

Kaliiiint'. Abb. a. Sm. Much shaded with bright brown and ditfering in color from the other species ; thorax chestnut brown with yellowish side stripe; forewings pale yellowish brown shaded and marked with chestnut brown as in the other species ; fringes checkered rusty brown and whitish. Less common than preceding. Larva, besides Kah^iia, feeds on Ash and several sorts of shrubs. Canada southwardly. May, August. These two agree in form and si/e .lost nearly with the European tj'pe of the genus S. liyHstri.

CliersiK. Hiibn. {Cinerca Harr.). Ash gray, a little larger than the other species, with the interspaceal dashes on primaries contrasting ; hindwings pale gray \\ith brownish median and terminal bands. Larva on Ash and various shrubs. Not common. Canada southwardly. This species has a more Northern range. June, July.

€aiia<leii»iis. Boisd. {Vlota Streck.). Smaller than the preceding, of a light brownish gray, forewings crossed by several incomplete oblique lines, and witli distinct inter- spaceal dashes, a subterminal black line edged with wliitish extends nearly to the apex, followed by another within ; hindwings pale gray with a spot at base and a central and subterminal brownish band. Still more Northern than Chersis (to w'hich it is somewhat closely allied) in its range. lAirva- according to Thaxter, probably on llulus, and Vaccinunn. Not connnon. Canada, Newfoundland, Maine. June, July.

laiiieitioiva. Clem. This rare species is gray with the hind wings and abdomen suffused with yellowish in the

45

V

males (this brighter tint appearing somewhat as tlie roseate in Jifpisiri) ; head above and tliorax bhick : forewings pale brown with the margins dull blaekisli ; veins niarkad with black ; the white discal dot has a line attached, double at first; fringes black: hindwings gray witii a broad Terminal black border and faint median band ; fringes pale ; beneath also yellowish in nuile, gray in the opposite sex. Lana on Willow (Hulst). Canada to Middle States. This is probably our rarest Hawk Moth of these kinds. })roper to the Middle States. Related in markings to succeeding species. The yellow suffusion of the male is most curious.

CliorcliiiN. Cram. Gray; forewings clouded with dull brownish or blackish ; discal spot small, white and triangular, two fine lines emerging from it crossing the cell and uniting; veins more or less marked with black : a regular sei'ies of interspaceal dashes, the upper forming apical streak: fringes whitish, cut with brown: hindwings whitish with blackish borders and central band ; fringes white. TMrrn on Api)le, Ash, etc. Quite common. Canada southwardly. Related to Luscitioso, but a little stouter. So far the species here cited are related in pairs; the smaller forms of Spltiux are (see my paper in Silliman's Journal) an American expansion of the genus.

EreiiiitiiN. Hiibn. Forewings brownisli gray, with a white discal spot set in a black dash, crossed by blackish shade bands in pairs and with the interspaceal dashes maiked; hind wings white with a black basal spot and a median and broad terminal band. TAin<i on Spearmint and Salria. Canada, southwardly. Not common. I do not find any grounds for separating this generically and have referred it to this genus in my Lists; I.<ii||;eiiN A^'alk., from the West is an allied species.

l>iloplioiiota. Burm.

The form is that of Sjihii/.r [LHhia of Hiibner) but is slenderer yet, the wings sharp at tips, abdomen longer, more gradually pointed. The thorax is bicrested, rounded in front, not so square as in the allied genus hognathius of Felder.

..^-iui ~^-«»^J4..._Ui

4()

From tlic colors and baiuled alxlonieii, I follow these insects with the tiiial siibtaniily Ac/irrottfii/ac, not found in Nortli America.

Kilo. Tiinn. '"The Wanderin*]^ Hawk." Light p^ray, the female darker, hind wings russet, ab(h)meu banded with black. Breeds in the extreme South, West Indies and Mexico. A wanderer in the North, whicli it i caches in the Fall.

Kt'iiiarkM.

As I have elsewhere pointed out the Macroglossians with angulatcd wings form a subgroup, leading to the (!lioero- cami»ians. The typical subfamily contains JLnxois, ArJhipofi, Li'piscsia, 3I((rro(/!of<s(i and allies, with even wings. My (dassitication is based on natural (diaracters, and no scientific i-easons have been brought forward by any dissident. It has been said that a certain (dass of nunds ditter mainly to differ and. in the arrangement of such delicate animals, the range of untrained oi)inion has been found to be wide.

(Considering, as I do, that the Sjthinf/idac may have been evolved from the ancestors of the ('crahra^iphnic, I regard the subterraneous pupation, without silk, as a low or derivative character, together with the crepuscular or nocturnal flight. On the other hand the surface pupation, the use of silken threads, the diurnal flight, as an api)roa(di to the Hcsiwr'nlac. The surface i)upation of tropical SpJiiiHiiiiar nuist be studied in connection with terrestrial conditions. There is a slight resend)lance in the larvae between the Pai>iJi(>i/ii/nc and (liocrocanipiiKiv.

The generally smooth larvae show exceptionally thoracic crests, as in Tripfonoii and ('crdfoniia. genera accordingly related; and this would be a i-etained character, recalling Juiclcs ii)ii)i>ri(ilis'. The rough, shagreened skin of the p]yed Hawks in also prol)ably a modified survival. The proofs that the passage to the Si>hi)i(/i<l(H' has been through what we now regard as older forms of Bombyces, are thus many and, if we place this family at the head of the Moths, it is not that it has real affinities with Castnia, which lias probably a different immediate origin.

47

The Spliiuriidao. have their metropolis in the tropins, not snited in their habits to the cohl of liigli hititudes: the Eastern portion of onr continent is snbject to the advent of occasional visitors coming on the snmmer winds from the West Indies and Florida. Among there occasional visitors may be cited Adhipus tifau and Uniluhis, Arffcns lahnisrai', I)ih>])]i<m()t(i rJlo. It is not known how for Sonth our Northern species of Smcrinthinoo, Sphinx, etc., range, but I found none of them in Cuban collections and it is probable that they do not even reach the Gulf. With regard to classitication. the present is considered now generally by Authors a distinct family. It seems to have been regarded formerly as a sub- family of "'Sj)liiii(/(\s''\ e(iuivalent in value to the ScsiUhn' or "Clear wings."

Our Hawk ]\[oths are in part (1) descended from a Tertiary Arctic fauna, in part (2) of South American origin, while (8) several forms must be considered as stricth' North American and as the direct survivors of the tertiary fauna of the Continent. On these points various papers in ■■Pa])ilio", "Silliman's Journal", etc., may be consulted. Genera belonging to the /?V6'/ category are marked, in the following list, with (E), to the socotid (S), to the third (N). These categories are provisional and demand further studies in this direction, and are here not fully cariied out, for want of data. The food ])lants of the larvae are deciduous i)lants, shrubs and trees, except FJJctua which feeds on pines (('ouifcrdc). I have found Sphinx /laJniiap on plants of]\Iountain IjRiu'el (K((hiiia) not a foot in height, the larva being much exposed. The larvae sutler greatly from the attacks of IchitcKHuiiiidac: this alone prevents certain kinds of VliiJawpelxx and I'h/ciic- fhonfiii.s' from becoming very injurious. In the South the Catalpa trees are defoliated by Darrmma Oittdjiac. but, strange to say, the pupae seldom give the moth. The pupation of this group is more dangerous to the individual than in the cocoon-making groups: interference with the larva seeking pupation seems readily fatal; often the gr(mnd is not suit- able and the roving larva falls a prey : these heavy, naked larvae fall also victims to storms, by which they are shaken

4d

from the trees to certain deatli : tlieir tenacious grasp I liave then noticed to be insufficient, although the strength of their anal daspers is very great. The following list: may be of service in arranging colhM'tions, fiom Canada as far south as the Middle States, the species from Texas, Florida, and the Southei'n States, as well as the Californian forms, may readily l)e interpolated: these are all given, to the total number of 95, in my lists and catalogues. I am dis- posed to regard nomenclature and classification absolutely correct, as far as my long experience and study can make them so.

It

*'4

Species and genera here discussed.

Macroglossinae.

Heiiiaris. Dalm. (E)

tenuis. Grote. (li finis. Boisd. marginal is. Grote. axillaris. G. a. R. (fracilis. G. a. R. fln/sbf. Fab. hnfalocnsis. G. a. R. Ijopiiiioikiia. Grote. (N) Harofasciafa. Barnst.

Aiiipliioii. Hubn. (N) iipssns. Cram.

Tliyrous. Swains. (N) ahhofii. Swains.

Kiiyo. HUbn. (S) hajnhris. Linn.

llei«laiiiia. Clem. (N) inscripta. Hari'is.

Choerocampinae.

Kv«'ryx. Boisd, choprilus. Cram.

Aiiipelopliafi^a. Brem.

)ni/r()n. Cram. versicolor. Harris.

]>eiloiic>]ie. Grote. (S) lersa. Linn.

nefleiihila. Ochs. (E) cltamaenerii. Harris. linenta. Fab,

PliilaiiipcliiN. Harris.

rids. Drury. linnei. G. a. R, posfivains. Grote,- pandoras. Hubn. achemon. Drury.

49

m.

(S)

(E)

Smerinthinae.

<'alaN.yiiil»oliiN. Gi . (E)

(i.^tifhis. 1 )nii'y. tiii/oj)s\ Abb. a. Sm. crritiii. Kirby. </f))ii)uttiis. Say.

• Faoiiiii.s. Hiibn. (N) cxrdtrahis. Abb. a. Sm.

C^iM'NMMiia. (T.a. R. (N) jnflJamlis. Abb. a. Sni.

Trii»toK:oii. I?rem. (E) mndcsld. Harris.

Sphinginae.

4'<>raloiiiia. Harris. (N) (Diiytitoy. Hiibii.-

l>aroiiiiiia. Walk. (N) iiiK/iilom. Walk.

I>ilii<lia. a. a. E.

jns)ni)/(<ini})i. B. a. Lee.

l>oll»a. Walk. iNj lii/hnu-'. I 'niry.

Plile{X<'tlioiitiiiK. Iliilin. nisticd. Fabr. varolnKi. Tjinn. ^^/r/^s■. llUbll. cinf/Hldld. Kabr.

Atri'iiM. (irotc. pJchcids. Fabr.

Klloiiia. rii-iii. iN) (■iiiiij'rrdniiii. Abb. a. Sm.

Spliiiix. IJiiu. (Kl (Iniplfrrdndii. Abb. a. Sm. hiJiiiidc. Abb. a. Sm. chcrsis. Hiibii. cddddt'Dsis. Hoisd. hiscHiiisd. ("leiii. (lonlids. Cram. cn'iiilfds. Hiibn.

]>ilo|»lioiioia. Hiirm. j!^//o. Linn.

(S)

rris.

r

50

List of Plant genera,

tlie different members of which are eaten by the larvae of

Sphingidae. The best time to find these, nearly or qnitc

fall grown, is .Inly to September.

^,'N,-' .^u^*^--^

1.	Amihwchicr. Shadbiisli.	2fi.
2.	Aniprlopsis. Virg. Creeper.	27.
3.	A.'<inii}ii(L Pawpaw.	28.
4.	Azalea. Azalea.	29.
5.	Brtula. Birch.	30.
6.	(\n-jia. Hickory.	31.
7.	Cf'phalanthas. Biittoiibush.	32.
8.	Conipfroiia. Sweet Fern.	33.
9.	( 'rafacuns. Hawthorn.	34.
10.	IJatura. Jamestown weed.	35.
11.	DihriUa. Bush Honeysuckle.	3().
12.	EpiJohiioii. Willow herb.	37.
13.	Ilex. Inkberry.	38.
14.	JK(/Jaih^. Walnut.	39.
15.	Kahuia. Mountain Laurel.	40.
16.	Lii/iisfnon. Privet.	41.
17.	Lifpddamhar. Gum tree.	42.
18.	Liricdeudnm. Tulip tree.	43.
19.	Lj/einni. Matrimony vine.	44.
20.	Mentha. Spearmint.	45.
21.	Monanla. Bergamot.	46.
22.	Myrka. Sweet gale.	47.
23.	Xesaeu. Loosestrife.	48.
24.	Ni/t<sa. Sour Gum.	49.
25.	Oenothera. Even'g. Primrose	50.

Ostri/a. Iroi 1

J'hi/.^alis. Ground Cherry. Finits. Pine. Fopnlns. Po})lar. Forfnlaca. Purslane. Fmnns. Plum, Cherry. Fi/n(.<: Apple. Querent. Oak. Fo.'.a. Wild Rose. RhIiks. Blackberry. Fiiniex. Dock. Salh: Willow. Sahia. Li' 'er. Spermacoce. .tonweed. Spiraea. Spiraea. Stellaria. Chickweed. Sionplioricarpas. Snowberry. Si/rintja. Lilac.

Teconia. Trumpet Creeper.

TUia. Basswood.

Tri(Kstennini. Feverwort.

Uhnn,^'. Elm.

Vaccininm. Blueberry.

Vihmium. Snowball.

F///.S'. Grape.

"

51

Tropical species

I'orming part of the rolony in soutlu'in Florida

Ambulyx sfrini/is. — Diludia hrontrs. —

Cautethia urofri. Enyo atnirrtns.

da num. —

Philampelu'i poi^ticafHK. — '. Amphonyx aiitani.". Pachylia _firiis. (hqumchcl. —

Slices. Of the mimes followed by a dash ( — ) I have seen no specimens from Florida; the sign is also used after species unknown to me.

Species peculiar

to the fauna of the Southern States, not tropical so far as known:

Hemaris fuscicamlis. iioridensis. Lepisesia circme. — PogOCOlon fianrac - Pachylia hjnci'a. — Daremma Jifufenii. catalpne.

Diludia jasm'monrum.

leucophaodta. —

Exedrium haJkaruic -

Dilophonota /'c>7^^ — oliscuni. cdwardsii.

Species found in the tropics,

breeding also in the Southern States and occasionally appearing in the North, irregularly or as wind visitors:

Aellopos iita>}.

fantnJus. Enyo htfiuhris. Philampelus vitis. linnei.

Arg'eus Udmiscne. Phleg-ethontius rustica. Dilophonota dlo.

melanchoUca.

'merianae.

H-^

52

Species peculiar to California

so I'ar as known to me.

1

[i

Hemaris pal/ml i.s.

thctis. Euproserpinus pJiacfoi. Arctonotus /Hcidns.

Lepisesia clarliicp. — Smerinthus ophtliaJmictis. Hyloicus srf/Hoiai'. — Sphinx i)vr('l('(jans.

These coiicludiiig pjeo<(i'ai)lii(;al lists will at least give a genornl idea of tlie distribution of ce'tain forms of North American Hawk Moths.

The S/>Jii)i(ii(J((i' are probably not represented in Labrador. In Newfoundland >S'. cduddoi.^is occurs; the specie.^ of the highest range to the north arc; probably HciiKiris iiinfurniis, ]h'il('l>/ii/a cl>a!)/((f')/pyii and Jiitca/a, Smcrij/fhiif' ccrisii, Elloiui h(ii)ilii/('oi(J('s, together with this species of S/)/ii)>.r. No Hawk Moths liy in Ic^'land ; the tamily ceases t«. exist, ]>robably before any other of the larger families of Moths, on the way to the Pole. In Upper Canada most of the species of the Middle States may be found. It is in the tro})ics. under a warm sun and suri'ounded by a various tlora. that the Hawk Moths reach their liighest develoi)ment in kinds and numbers. Our laig'st species is Anip/ioi/i/.r ai/fih'iis, the smallest. Ei(i)roscri>'n)us pliadinK Our finest northern form (with a wide range) is Tripfotjim iixx/rs/a, somewhat inapi)ositely named, but varying greatly in size and dei>th of coloj'.

Besides tht; si)ecial Authors cited, we are indebted to Prof. 0. V. Riley for some ex(|uisit(^ drawings of lar\iU'. to Prof. Saunders and Roland Thaxter for descriptions of larvae, while Mr. W"' BeutenmUller jr., has largely addeil to our knowledge of their food plants. The Rev. Mr. Hulst, Prof. Lintner, Mr. S. Lowell Elliot and Mr. S. H. Scudder have also made vahuible observations on their transformations and immature stages, w^'ile Prof. Alex. Agassiz and J)' Wittfeld have encreased our information as to the species inhabiting the Florida Peninsula.

53

L'Eiivoi.

Ich iiiriii- ill ili"»'in llrxtiilifcr ]\Iirli liuiiz mill t,Mr vorlit'icn. (rcethc.

Jr.uitlicisiu is directly fo'-h^rcd in tlic mind of mnii tliroup'li tlio study (d' KntniiiolDjiT. It appeals to liiiii l»y tlie dis])lay (d" that \\lii(di is lieaiititul in Nature and it may be said that the worship or ciilt of Biitterliies has taken I'mit anioup: us. As su(di it opjtoses the vifw of Deism, as an intelh>('tuai solution of the woiid-all. My old fi'iend Sanhoni was taken to task, uiion ndijiious Lirounds, fo;- C()]le('tin<i" on Sunday, lie re]tlied to his interlocutor, a Nen' England clerp-yman. tliat ••it (iod would shut up his Untter- flies on Sunday, lu* himself would not go out aftei' them.^^ To Sanborn. BmterHies were a part (d' the Divinity in nature. He Wiis a Pantheist and met the demands id' the orthodox Deists by the creed that the woods are (iod's temple in which irian seeks the Divinity in the rnys id' sunlight glinting across the green leaves, in blid and beast and butter- Hy and tlower. The search was to lii)n always r(digious and lienee justifiable. This argument is nnu'e or less consciously advanced by all Hnt<mii>logists. v.lio. as a body, (dassify tle-ir collections rather than their thoughts, perhaps. They wl^v- sliip none the less fervently at the Altai' (d' the Hours than the believers at that (d' ihe S;:ci'ements. I have Ix-where dw(dt o\\ this subject td' the latent Pantheism in our race. While the Semite accei)ts all indistinguishably from tlie hand of the Creator, the Indn-( ierman examines and arranges. The (d)sei-ving (ii'e(d< I'oet (daps the wings (d' the Butterfly on the innnortal and beautiful shoulders (d' I'sycdie and wings his figures of Love and Death like Birds. The cult of Butterflies is too strong for sonu' of us. \\ causes Mr. Strecker

i Hi

' .'1

«)

^smmmmmmmc.

^

54

■^'■

to adveitise that lie "covets" speeiueiis and even to con- sider the loss of life on a Polar Expedition justified in the capture of some rare species. When Mr. Strecker or Mr. Neumoegen talk in print about „Science", one hears them with a certain shock, feeling that this is not alwaj's the correct term to be applied to a propensity for collecting and naming Butterflies.

A more intimate relationship between the Sphinfjidof and Bomhiicidae. is suggested by the American group of the CetrifocanipiHao. Already in 1865 I call attention to this, but I regard it then as a matter .: Analogy rather than Affinity. If we regard the larvae of the ^'eratocampians, which I have studied and described in pai, we see a loss of the spines and diminution in length through the series Citheronia, Anisota, Drffocanipa. These three genera are the nearer related, the other series is Each's, Sphinf/icampa. The larva of IJ. ridticKuda has lost all but the fore and aft dorsal spines; the Sph'uxjidao have become smooth and only have a ridge behind the head or the anal spine repre- sented by a fleshy horn. I do not know the larva of Qmdrina, which I placed temporarily at the head of the Ccratocamphmc. It is perhaps the remains of another old type of Boml)yces. In America we shall have probably to do with remains of older types than elsewhere on the globe. This I have already pointed out, regarding the CWafocampituw as remains of an old type and nearer to the Hawk Moths than any subfamily of the Spinners now existing. This sub- family has short antennae and a long and heavy body, a pupation like the N<)t()d<mf'niao and Spliinfi'iddc, very bright colors (piite different from the Coi^s'nmc, but some JfcpialiHaa, which I separate from D' Packard's Hepinii, are also very gaily marked. These old types are very interesting and we may briefly allude here to the Pah'oJifs/tcridoc, which seem to stand between the Butterflies and Moths.

The genera of the Cemfocmtipiuup, leaving Quodrina for tlie moment out of tho question, should be arranged thus : jrst. Eaclea, Adi'hci'phaJa, Sphin<jicanipa ; 2"'"y' Citherouia, Anisota, Dryocanipa. The male and the caterpillar of

55

Qnadriva (liazomu Grote, must botli be known before it can be placed with certainty. According to my friend Mr. Robert Bunker, Ciflierouia rajdJi,^ comes occasionally to bait after the fashion of a Sphinx. The resemblance between the American genera lutcJrs and (rrafoinia is pointed out by me in 1865. I bring TripttKjuH and Ccrutowia together from the thoracic 'iiorns'' of the larvae, resembling each other and this Bombycid genus. I have thus two i)oints to excuse my arrangement of the SnierinfJiinftr, viz: the I'esemblance between Anihuli/x and Caln.^i/ntlxjhis at one end and Triptoiion and Crrafoniia at the other. It is the young stages which must atford us a guide in our deductions and. already in 1865, I have seen the importance of evidence which leads me to insist upon my classitication of the Sphintiidai- today and the longer they are studied. As to the importance of studying American forms there can be no (juestion if, as I believe, older types exist here than elsewhere. Just as I believe the species of Ba.^ilarcliia to be recently separated, I look upon the Palcohesperidac as relics of a very old and else obsolete type of the Lepidoptera. In the question of the relationship of the Sph'niii'uhte and the Bowhifces, the "horn" of Bouilnjx nwri must be remembered, no less than the distention of the anterior segments of this larva which i-ecails the Elephant Hawk Moths. While I think there can be no doubt that the meml)ranous tongue in the Swffhithinac is a retained character, the question is not so clear with EUcnin, in which the character may be one of reversion.

TliH characters of the Family Vahohcspn-idac (consult my ])aper, Can. Ent. 173, for the year 1875, where they are first announced) are as follows; Eyes large and naked. No ocelli ; caputal S(iuauuition mixed flattened scales and hair. Antennae capitate, without terminal inflection. Wings heavy, entire. Tibiae and tarsi strongly spinose; hind and middle tibiae with terminal claws. Legs stout. The three parts of the body unusually distinct. Form cylindrical. Head broad in front. Onuunentation uuich like the Hvsprrii/oc, brown an<l yellow. The characters by which this Family is separated from the otJHU' Butterflies, are taken from the

s^

il

50

I

tf

('(isfiiiddar. Jiesides Yurrdr. Feldcr di'sciibcs and iigiircs a Mexican species in tlie AViener i^nt. Monatssclirift. In the long abdomen, tlie segments distinct, and head i»arts. are resenibhmces to the .Moths.

Tn my earliest papers (IHlio) on tlie Hawk Motlis. I have sp(dien of tlie dimoipliism (d'tlie cateri)illars, J)rilrj)/iila, I'hictlc/l/nulius. and then of the ampelophas'ic o'enera. showing thai they possessed inditferently, withont regard to seX, a green or brcwn tint. \ called these tints '•cosmical", the brown being like that of the eartk and the grei'ii like the vegetation. In this view they ai'e i)rotectiv(\ Several o'reen larvae in the Hawk .Moths become brownish daring the last twenty four hours, while wandering over the soil Ix'fore [)Ui)ation. This change in color takes place even in continenuMit over a wliiti' surface. The origin of this dimor- phism (dfei's an inviting study : it occurs in many Moths and some Butterflies. in my writings I have maintained the following theses. That the lei)idopterous fauna of the sunnnit of the White ]\rountains {(i.-j/cis\ Larid, Pacl/nohla etc.) is a relic of the (Jlacial Epoch. That our fauna has three liroximate sources, boreal (Ei, austral (S) and indigenous during tei'tiary times iXi. That certain forms suidi as Scti/itip/i'ry.r and Diii/cry /iti have remained unaltered since the separation of the Euro[)eiUi and American faunae by the Ice Period, while others, as ('(itoca/a rc/ic/a. (''t/>i)iiani<'s'fr(i ori'idi'i/fo. have bec(»nm distinct si)ecies. Internu'diate are those species which ditier only in one stage, and that mostly the larval, such as Aindcla (iccidrufdHs from A. /)si. I have shown the method of variation, in its expression in tlie perfect insects; the retention, occasi(mally. in specimens of rrlida of blue .scales on the band proves the reversiim to the Euro- \\vi\\\ fra.r'nii. 1 have further shown that, in genera of Southern extraction, the area of suci-essful hibei'uation is more restricted than that (d' the sunuuer flight and breeding of the Moth, as in AUlia (trijilhina, the ("otton woi'm.

.Aly theory (Detroit ^[eeting. Am. Ass. Aug., 187")) that the Huttertly fauna, of the sunnnit of ]\[ount Washington is a survival from the Glacial Eiioch. etpially with the theory

i)<

In the Its, are

\r(.tli8. r ih jihila, n1 lowing i» sex, a il--, the ike the Several I (Iniing llie soil even in > (liiiior- >tlis and ned the sninniit ete.i is IS three liS"<'nons such as inee the \)\ the ^icDtH'sIra ate are t mostly I have perfect 1" rrlicfd e Euro- (•nthern strieted Loth, as

f)) that

igton is

theory

i

of the tropical origin of the Cotton worm, was reached by me thnaigh independent studies. The latter was in con- tradiction to that point of view from which the Cotton worm was treated in the '-Missouri Reports" by Prof. C. V. iviley. A subsecpient attempt to deprive me of originality on the discovery of the ''Boston letter'', not only fails when the letter itself is compared Avith my observations, but is without force as coming from Prof. Riley, who was e(iually unaware of the existence of the letter with myself at the time of reading my paper.

I have also shown the <'xistence of generic groups of forms more closely related than is usually the case, such as Butana, Xwhfa, the European P/i((/< ni and in our Buttei'flies the genus Ikisilarcliiti. It seems to nie that the species in these genera present a certain advanced stage of distinctiveness when their interdependence has but recently ceased, they are yet in i)rocess of separation, of hardening-into perfectly distinct appearing species. T have called such generic groups, Fro- yeneni. Sections of other genera, as considered by Authors, show this peculiarity, as the typical section of Ht'iiiilcitca. I refer tricolor to JlmiilrKcd. and in this view its color variation becomes of more interest than when regarded as a distinct generic type. From this subfamily, as established by Packard, I have separated the J{c)nH<ii('i,.ar and Ceratoaniipinac, the latter the cowwiinifontit's of Hiibner. characterized by the shorter antennae and heavy bodies, in this api)roachnig the Cof<,^i(hu\ from this latter \ sejiarated. as a distinct sub- family, the llcp'udiuni' My Catalogue in the Philosophical Society gives my ideas on the arrangment of these groui)s. but slightly altered from Packard. On these points the student should consult our colored Plates of Dafxtia in the sixth Volume of tlie Preceedings of the Entomological Society of Philadelidiia and the descriptions. On the Ccratocampiuac consult (irote a. Robinson's paper in N. Y. Lyceum. Also my list. Am. Phil. Society, Nov. :?0"'-. 1.S74. and my jtapers in the Bulletin of the United States (Geological Survey. A period of Renascence in American P^ntomolugy has now passed away. It is one hundred years from Linnaeus

8

58

X. Edition to Clemens (1858) wliicli date I take as the com- mencement of an era in which American Lepidopterists are to catalogue the different Families of Lepidoptera and lay foun- dation for present and future discoveries. Mr. W. H. P^dwards describes and catalogues our Butterflies, as also Mr. S. H, Scudder; D'- Clemens writes on the Sphingidac, Tortricidac and Tint'Ulaf, D'- Packard on the Ziifiaenidao, Jionihi/cidac and Gcometridae, I, myself, catalogue the Sphiiujidac, yort/iidac and VyrnJidae, Mr. C. T. Robinson, besides working Avitli me, connnences to figure the Tortricidac and Mr. V. T. Chambers takes up the Tineidae afresh. Finally Prof. C. H. Fernald catalogues the Toririciddc and reclassifies them, jMr. Henry Edwards works up the Scsiidac and, with the publication of my New Check List (1882), this Renascence period comes to an end. These are its principal Authors and their work. It spans the time from D'- Morris Catalogue to my New Check List. It' has identified our more usual forms, arranged them scientifically and in correspondence with the views of the best European writers, besides performing a great deal of original and enduring work of its own. From this time the des- cription of our Butterflies and ]\[oths is undertaken with greater security and this period is further notable from the appearance of a journal, Papilio, entirely devoted to the Lepidoptera. Above all, the work of determining the private collections throughout the country has been performed and has greatly furthered the interest in the study. The first period of North American Lepidopterology was that of Abbot, Boisduval, the elder Leconte, Say, Peck, Harris, Gosse, Kirtland and their historian, our old friend 1)^'- J. G. Morris. The second period, which I call the Renascence, alluding to the re-rising of the study since Say's death, has certainly been a fruitful one, during which a great deal of work was performed with good humor and at considerable selfsacrifice. It deserves a better fate than that any of its workers should have tli^ir laurels assailed ,by those who to day rest in their shade. It is not that very many others do not materially assist, but the writers above mentioned are those who performed the most work in the Butterflies and Moths and whose names

P

r)<>

the coni- I'ists are lay foiin- Edwards r. S. H. niricidae nihi/cidnc

with me, hambers Fernahl . Hemy atioii of I comes r work, ly New rraiig-ed lews of (leal of ;he (les- greater earaiice '1 opt cm. lections greatly riod of sduval, tid and second i-rising fruitful d Avith ^serves 3 th^ir shade, assist, tbnued names

I

are mure i)articuhirly associated with tlie respective families of the Lcp'uhptem of our Nortli American fauna.

As to English names for the Ameilcan species of Hawk Moths, several liave been suggested which I have not referred to here. I, myself, have used the following common names: the Early Bee Hawk, for Lrpisfsla tlarnfosvidhi: the Blue and Green Hawk, for Ariims lnl,n(s((ir : the Particolored Hawk, tor Ani})i'h))ili<ui(i versicolor : the Wandering Hawk, for Dih- phonola dh).

Any approach of the internal feeding ('oss'nidc. to the Hawk Moths is, I think, unwarranted. In cimsidering the Splii»(/i(hi' as a distinct Family, eijuivalent to the Hi»nl>iicidae and Xoctx'uUie, special studies, such as I have here attempted, must decide as to the rank of the component groups and this on similar considerations as intiuence our separation ot the Family itself. In this action, the definitions of the elder Agassiz must be held steadily in view and we must not wholly depend upon a generic class of characters, as would seem to have been the course of that most distinguished of Entomologists-Lederer.

On the whole the Subfamilies of Sphingidae may be regarded as affording two series, the first embracing the Macrof/Jossinar, C/iocrorantpinac and SnirrlufhiiKw, the second the SpJiinpiiHie and Achcrontuuie, the members of each series approaching each other more nearly than the opi)osed series. Nevertheless the Eyed Hawks afford a synthetic type, the family characters recalling the Snwriidhiiiac appearing in all the groups. So the Bee Hawks approach through Drulaniia and tlie genera with angulated wings, the Elephant Hawks through AmhifJif.r. the Typical Hawks through Ellfimi. The l)attern and colors, outline, habit and general structure, so difficult to properly consider in a linear arrangement, are best appreciated under the present classification. The short antennae of the Death's Head Hawk Moths (Acliorontwae) seem to me a low character; the pattern and colors, the ringed abdomen, the contrast between primaries and secon- daries ally this Old World group with the Typical Hawk

()0

Moths (Splii)/(iin<ii') : I liave iiotUM'd in botli a certain rcmi- nescence of the Owlet Moths or Xorftiiddr (Sphin}^i(hi(! of Cuba, [){). 1—2).

So strong are the characters of tlie Bee Jfawks with angulated or uneven external margin to the forewings (as seen especially in the larval stages of 7'A//r^/^^■. like J'lti/anipchis Avliere the anal horn is discarded for an ocellus), that I have hesitated as to their position. But their general form and body tuftings decide ine that they are to be regarded as aberrant Macrot/lossit/af, rather than a distinct subfamily tyjie. They make a natural passage between the two subfamily groups, sharing the flight and habit of the one and ai)proaching the other in the young stage and food plant. Ui)on this latter characteristic, as it generally is for my ditferent subfamily groui)s of Splinxjidao, I lay great value as indicating relationship. It unites the Sphinfi'uiao and the AchcnnithKU' and shows that these two are the nearer related and form a series. Everywhere that class of proofs which require the tact and experience of a Naturalist to bring out. witness for that general view of the classification of the Sphinfi'idao which I may speak of as my own, so nnich being either original with me or brought into new light through my long study of the family.

The man of science observes the small changes which underlie the endless succession of life. It is clear to him how we are drifting if. with the rest of humanity, he does not know ivlicrr. Witliin certain limits he believes that the will of man counts for something and that, in the perpetual struggle, that which is useful, good and beautiful shall prevail. Even in comparatively so small a social field as Entomology attbrds, he may oppose the purely selfish action, the insincere statement, and try to correct the limited exi)erience which prompts so many faults. From the contemplation of nuicli that i;^. paltry and much that is stupid in the writings and doings of Entomologists, he can at least always turn for relief to Nature herself, standing high al)ove all the schools which strive but to translate her. He may drink in all the loveliness of the world and refresh his soul by wanderings

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in field and forest, by expansive lake and windinj; stream. The throbbing Sea, answering by its agitation to the pnlses of tlie wind, will excite his longings and draw his sonl ont after it. And, when the summer is past and the roses, by thousand ways and voics, Nature will still amuse him until, tired of his ([uest, he falls into the last slee^t in the arms of the universal mother.

So, by the Lake at Buffalo, Time, winged with happiness passed by and, feigning that he would be thus every- where, lured me away. The world is full of beautiful butter- flies but those that fly at home are the best. Even in the technical works of our noted Entomologists, a local oloring attests the force of this sentiment. Thus there is an in- describable Massachusetts flavor about D""- Harris's book. And, let him industriously gather eggs and caterpillars from what part of the country he may, it is always as from West Virginia that Mr. W. H. Edwards invites his readers to the great feast of facts. In some way the scent of the Elaine woods has got into Professor Fernald's writings: we seem to know the famous bog in Orono, whereon Ociici.^ jntta cumbrously flies; through openings in the woods we catch a glimpse of warm-tinted Spring-tide azalea or shhi-bush blooms, over Avhich the '-Early Bee Hawk'- (Lepisoia flavo- fuschda) for an instant hovers to vanish again. And the ridge by the Lake side where, of a June evening, I caught the rare "Particolored Hawk" (uhnpclopliafia rer.si color) I would also have remembered out of my own experiences, the Canada shore in the distance and all about me the lovely scenery of Western New York.

Although what the Poets say must always be taken in a certain wide sense, I have be^-n struck by their particular attention to butterflies. Poe declares that a certain curious sentiment is derived from '-the contemplation of a moth, a butterfly, a chrysalis." As to the latter he may have been influenced by the mere euphony of the word itself. Only an Entomologist, with prophetic soul dreaming on the glories to come, can be moved by the sight of a chrysalis. But, perhaps, I am wrong here, remembering the chrysalids of

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certain butterflies, tliose pendant, gold-studded earrings of Nature, liung by her in moments of pride from trees and pretty blooming plants. Buds to open, to expand, to take their flight.

Somtimes, now, I dream of fields Elysian, where, on beds of Asi)hodel, hang pendulous innnortal butterflies, beneath an eternal sky. And, coming kindly to meet me, I see Harris and Doubleday, Boisduval and Say; while, with his nervous manner all gone, I find again Francis Walker, his good work all remembered. And he forgives all I have said, as I ask his pardon, because it really was (and I have been there myself j very dark in the entresol of the British Museum where he had to work. But here it is Light at last and an everlasting Sun is shining.

-^>'^^s:i?e-^t5<'<^-

dd

Table of Contents.

PiiRe Dedicaticn 3

OnTollecting- and Preserving- for the Cabinet 5

The Species of North American Hawl< Moths 15

Classification 22

Family Paleohesperidae 22, 55

Deilonche (new genus) 30

Calasymbolus geminatus rar. tripartitus -Hi

Atreus (new genus) 41

List of Species and genera 48

List of food plants 50

L'Envoi 5;.}