Sphingidae 
This lovely hawkmoth, which is accounted quite rare in 
localities, has been found very commonly at certain times in 
western Pennsylvania. Its larva feeds upon the wild hydrangea, 
which grows abundantly in deep wooded glens, along the 
margin of brooks. The insect ranges from New England to the 
mountains of the Carolinas and westward into the eastern border 
of the Mississippi Valley. 
Genus SPHECODINA Blanchard 
The head is broad. The proboscis is nearly as long as the 
body. The antennas are fusiform, with a recurved hook at the 
tip. The body is broad, flattened beneath. The abdomen has a 
pointed anal tuft, and the segments are adorned laterally with 
prominent truncated tufts of coarse hairs. The wings in their 
outline closely resemble those of the genus Amphion. Only one 
species of the genus is known. 
(i) Sphecodina abbotti Swainson, Plate II, Fig. 19, $. 
(Abbot’s Sphinx.) 
This beautiful hawkmoth is found throughout the Eastern 
States and southern Canada and ranges westward as far as Iowa 
and Kansas. The 
larva feeds on the 
Vitacece and is 
not uncommon 
o n Ampelopsis. 
The caterpillar is 
not provided with 
an anal horn, but 
has instead an 
eye-like tubercle, 
or boss, at the 
anal extremity. 
It has the habit, 
when disturbed, 
Fig. 33. —Larva and moth of 5 . abbotti. throwing its 
(After Riley.) head violently 
from side to side, a movement found in other sphingid larvae, 
and also in some of the Ceratocampidce, 
70 
