36 [August 



comes into contact with Macrosila, Boisd. apud Walker, issued at the 

 same time, and I have given in the synonymy throughout the prefe- 

 rence to Mr. Walker. Prof. Burmeister's genera seem feebly charac- 

 terized, probably from want of extended material and needful dissec- 

 tional study, while his reference of Pachylia ficus, to Deilephila^ of 

 Ghstrocampa tersa to Philampehis, affords little pretence for overlook- 

 ing the priority of Htibner, on the score of defective generic apprecia- 

 tion. The definition of the genus Protoparce is, I think, incomplete, 

 while it is evidently intended as a synonym of Macrosila Boisd. Based 

 on Sphinx rusfica Cramer, the Professor enumerates under it /S. 

 Brontes Drury, S. IL/lseus Drury, S. plebeia Fab., S.sordida Harris, 

 and S. coniferarum A. & S., a singular material to select, when we see 

 that under Spliinx the Professor leaves *S^. Antseus Drury, S. Florestan 

 Cram., S. cingulata Fab. and S. Carolina L. 



An affinity with Acherontia is claimed for the genus so constituted, 

 which I am at a loss to perceive, and am decidedly of opinion does not 

 exist. 



I have already alluded above to the " Synopsis of North American 

 Sphingidae" of Dr. Brackenridge Clemens. The arrangement of the 

 genera in this work I have mainly followed in the present Notice, and 

 since the locality of the species I am considering is restricted, I have 

 had this further reason for abstaining from making any innovation. 

 The sequence of the genera in the " Synopsis" is founded on that of 

 Mr. Walker in the Cat. B. Mus., and is mainly that of Hiibner, com- 

 mencing with Sesia, Macroglossum, and genera showing analogies with 

 the ^Egeriidae. I have differed from the specific determinations of Dr. 

 Clemens in certain cases, — for instance in the genus Philampelus, where 

 I believe that P. vitis and P. jussieuse, are perfectly distinct and valid 

 species and that the specimens described by Dr. Clemens under P, oiti>^ 

 belong to P. jussieuse, and vice versa, etc. But, very generally, Dr. Cle- 

 mens has taken the bibliography of the species from Mr. Walker, so 

 that where I have differed from the latter I have equally differed from 

 our American lepidopterist. 



Respecting the larvae of the American Sphingidse much remains to 

 be made known ; the paucity of reliable figures of these is particularly 

 noticeable. I have observed that the larvae of Thyreus ahbotli Swains., 

 and certain species belonging to the genus Philampelus Harris, possess 

 a tint of brown or green indifferently at maturity as the ground color, 

 and have noticed the same appropriation of these truly cosmical tints 

 in the larva of the Bombycid genus Fades Hiibner. In studying the 



