b GROTE AND ROBINSON. 



margin long and straight, slightly folded. Costal nervure arched at 

 base and following the shape of the wing, joining the costal margin 

 before the apex. Discal cell somewhat pyriforni. 'J'he sub-costal ner- 

 vules are not thrown off together, but the first, on the upper side of 

 the nervuro, is thrown off before the divarication of the second and 

 third. 



This genus bears a remarkably close though superficial resemblance 

 to Smerinthus, Lair.; thus the general appearance is very deceptive. 

 The analogies of Psephopaectcs, with the Sphingidae, are not merely 

 expressed in the conformation of the wings; analogical characters may 

 be traced throughout, as, for instance, in the ccmiparatively large eyes, 

 in which an approximation is shown to the saliency oi" these organs in 

 a higher Family. The affinities of the moth, on the other hand, are 

 with the Bombycidae, and its true position is with Adelocephala, and 

 allied genera belonging to the lower Tribe of the Sub-family Cerato- 

 campidae — the Dn/ocampiai. 



In Psephopaectcs, we have a fresh illustration of the varied and in- 

 teresting analogical forms afforded by the Bombycidae. Dr. Packard 

 has already remarked : "Within the Sub-order Lepidoptera there is a 

 true and beautiful synthesis located in the Bombyces."* We take, then, 

 the occasion of repeating Dr. Packard's words on this subject, merely 

 to corroborate his views. 



Psephopaectcs simulatilis. n. sp. (Plate 1, fig. 1, % .) 



% . Fawn color, with a light purple shade. Head, thorax and ab- 

 domen, uniformly pale fawn color; legs, darker, becoming purplish on 

 tarsi and tibi:X! outwardly. Primaries, brownish ochreous, obsoletely 

 irrorate, darker at base and outside of the external transverse line. An 

 oblique, basal, darker, transverse line projected superiorly. Median 

 space, paler than the wing elsewhere, limited externally by a narrow, even, 

 oldicpie, external, dark brown line, which emanates from costa at apical 

 fourth, and joins internal margin without the middle. Discal cross- 

 vein faintly marked and clouded with darker scales. Outside the ex- 

 ternal transverse line, the wing is more intensely colored than elsewhere, 

 being of a deep tawny ochreous, and is overcast by a light lilac shade, 

 this latter obtaining as a determinate color, from first median nervule 

 to internal angle along the terminal margin of the wing. The short 

 fringes are dark, especially inferiorly. Under surface, resembling up- 



* Packard : On Synthetic Types in In.-<eots, An. .\v, Jour. Bust. Soc. Nat. ll'i^x 

 Vol. X, p. 602, June, 1863. 



