204 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



DEIDAMIA INSCRIPTA, Harr. 



In the early part of May last, on meeting Mr. Bice he had the agree- 

 able information to convey to me that he had taken a Sphinx that was 

 new to him. Upon looking at it I at once suspected that it was new 

 to me also ; and on investigation proved the correctness of the im- 

 pression. Its small size, strikingly Smerinthoid form of primaries, 

 peculiar olive-gray colour and distinctly outlined ornamentation made 

 it easy to determine. 



Prof Fernald gives, in his "Sphingida? of New England," the follow- 

 ing brief, but clear and unmistakable, description of the species : 



"Expanse of wings, two inches. The head and thorax are grayish- 

 brown, with a double, curved, white line, edged with brown across the 

 prothorax, behind which are two other curved lines, one on the middle 

 and the other on the hinder part of the thorax. The abdomen is ashy, 

 and has two rovvs of dark brown spots. The fore wings are ashy-gray at 

 base, in the middle and toward the apex. Three brownish bands cross 

 the wings before the middle, another angulated band crosses beyond the 

 end of the cell, and the outer border of the wing has two dark brown 

 lunules on the margin below the apex, before the second of which is a 

 third spot, with more or less white between. The discal spot is paler 

 than the ground colour of the wing. The hind wings are of a dull 

 reddish-brown colour, with a dusky terminal band, which grows narrow 

 toward the anal angle. Fringes white. The mature larva is two inches 

 long, of a fine green colour, and the body tapers from the third segment 

 toward the head. The caudal horn is whitish at the tip. They go 

 into the ground (not very deep), and transform into very dark brown 

 puppe, with the tongue-case a short elevated ridge ; a short central spine 

 at the end of the head and a spinous tubercle on each of the eye-cases. 

 Feeds on the leaves of grape and Virginia creeper." 



Mr. Grote says ; " No known Smerinthoid feeds on the grape." He 

 gives the habitat as " Canada to Virginia." To which Dr. J. B. Smith 

 adds, " Westward to the Mississippi Valley." He also says, " The 

 species is by no means common." It is figured in Strecker's Lep. Rho. 

 et. Het, Plate XIII., Fig. 8. 



This is the fourth Sphingid species that Mr. Bice has secured new 

 to the Society's collection. 



J. A1..STON Moffat, London, Ont. 



