8IQ4-] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 327 



year from Germany the pupae of Sphingidae for his own conve- 

 nience and pleasure. About one and a quarter years ago there 

 emerged a healthy 9 of Smerinthus ocellalus L., and Mr. Rix, 

 tempted by its fresh and large appearance, tied it to a twig of the 

 common Syringa, to see whether this German belle would not 

 attract over night an American " beau' ' of the Smerinthus family. 

 Great was his surprise when he found next morning a of Pa- 

 onias astylus Dru. in coitu with the 6". ocellatus. The fructified 

 eggs were carefully attended to and a number of larvae, about 

 fifty, were raised from it, which pupated in the fall of 1893. Out 

 of these chrysalids Mr. Rix obtained this Summer about twenty- 

 five imagos, all males, of which, by inadvertency, however, about 

 half were destroyed, but luckily, enough material was left to 

 enable me to give the following description. Twenty more 

 healthy pupae left from the original lot seem to hibernate for the 

 second time, and are now under the paternal care of Mr. Doll, 

 so that as many specimens as possible may be obtained ot this 

 wonderful hybrid. It is strange that so many pupae should be 

 raised from such a peculiar contact, but Prof. John B. Smith 

 agrees with me in the opinion that this probably is due to the fact 

 that the copulation took place in free nature, and was not ' 'forced. 



All these hybrids look remarkably alike. They are all nearly 

 of the normal large size of .5". ocellatus measuring from 67. mm.- 

 73. mm. across wings. The shape of primaries is more of the 

 peculiar cut of P. astylus on an enlarged scale, while the secon- 

 daries are those of 6 1 . ocellatus with less dentation of outer margin 

 near anal angle. 



The following peculiarities are uniform in all examples : 



A large, brown, thoracical centre stripe from head to body, like in as- 

 tylus. Entire absence of the scalloped outer margin of primaries, so 

 prominent in ocellatus. Only faint traces of discal spot; transverse lines 

 in primaries much less undulated than in ocellatus, and the basal space of 

 the trian.ilar appearance of astylus, formed by the diagonal line from 

 basal part of costa joining marginal dash on submedian. Coloration of 

 primaries a mixture of ocellatus and astylus, with a fresh rosy hue pre- 

 vailing. Secondaries light chestnut with basal area of light rose; the 

 ocellus, although smaller than in ocellatus, is about twice the size of 

 astylus, with a heavy black rim and centre. Below, both wings like in 

 ocellatus, with the entire absence of discal dot in primaries. Abdomen 

 light chestnut, with an overcast of light rose. 



Types (males), coll. B. Neumoegen. 



