194 - JOHN B. SMITH. 



Messrs. F3des, Liiitner and Fernald have together given a verv 

 fair description of the larva, though Mr. Fyles in some way mixes 

 up Strecker's notes on lugeiis with eremltus, and thus somewhat mis- 

 leads Fernald, who quotes him in opposition to Lintner. 



S. plebeiiis Fabr., Sp. lus. ii, 146, Sphinx; Gen. Ins. 273; Maul.. Ins. 95, 

 Sphinx; Philos. Ent. 273; Ent. Syst. iii, 1, 367, Sphinx; Steph., 111. Br. Eut. 

 Haust. i, 122, Sphinx; Harr., Sill. Journ. 36, 296, Sphinx; Wood, lud. Ent. 

 246, pi. 53, fig. 27, Sphinx; Wlk., C. B. M. Lep. Het. viii, 224, Anceryx ; Clem., 

 Journ. Ac. N. Sci. Phil. iv. 170, Sphinx ; Morris, Syu. 1862, 195, Sphinx ; G. & E., 

 Pr. E. S. Phil. V. 166, Hyloicus ; Scud.,* Psyche ii, 78, Sphinx ; Bd.,* Sp. Gen. 

 Het. i. 99, Sphinx; pi. i, fig. 3, larva; Butl., Tr. Zool. Soc. Lond. ix. 617, Hy- 

 loicus; Fernald,* Sph. N. E. 52, Hyloicus; Grt., Hawk Moths 41, Atreus. 

 Head, thorax and abdomen dark gray. The palpi are whitish beneath and 

 have a brown stripe across the outgide, which extends back including the eyes, 

 under the wings. The collar is edged behind with black, and a black stripe ex- 

 tends through the middle of the patagipe, below which the side of the thorax is 

 paler. The abdomen has a central dark line and a broad baud of the same color 

 enclosing a row of four or five whitish spots along each side. The under side is 

 l)ale yellowish or sordid white. Primaries gray, with a white discal spot en- 

 circled with black, and there are heavy black dashes betweeu the veius from the 

 base aloug below the median vein to the apex. The usual cross lines on the 

 basal part of the wing appears as a pair of oblique faint brown stripes from the 

 basal fourth of the costa to the discal cell, and there are three very indefinite 

 brown lines across tlie outer part of the wing, dentate on the veins. The fringes 

 are alternately white and brown, the latter color resting at the ends of the veins, 

 which are also marked with brown at their extremities. The hind wings are 

 dark blackish brown, grayish towards the base and on the anal angle. Fringes 

 alternately brown and white. The under side of the fore wings is a.shy brown 

 with a darker, dentate line across the outer part. The under side of the hiud 

 wings is paler than that of the fore wings, but has a dark gray termin;vl band 

 and dentate line continuous with that on the fore wings; sometimes there is a 

 second line crossing the middle of the wing. Expands 2.65 — 3 in. ; 66 — 75 mm. 



Hub. — Canada to Florida ; westward to the Mississippi. 



This is an extremely well marked species. The dark unhanded 

 secondaries, ashy gray primaries with heavy longitudinal dasiies and 

 white discal spot are distinctive. The tibiije are not spinose, except 

 a few on anterior pair ; first joint of fore tarsi with a series of three 

 or four outer, long, curved spines. The spurs of middle and poste- 

 rior tibise are very long and unequal. The genitalia are of the usual 

 type. The supra-anal hook is somewhat compressed laterally, the 

 inferior projection short. The clasper is stout and corneous, and 

 soujcwhat excavated. 



The genus Atreus Grt., based on this species has absolutely no 

 foundation. The larva has been quite well described by Scudder, 

 and Boisduval gives a description after a figure by Abbot. 



