AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGY. 25 



SMERINTHUS. Plate XII. 



Generic character. Tongue very short ; antennae serrate ; 

 palpi contiguous, short, terminal joint tuberculiform, very short; 

 anterior wings angulated ; anus simple. 



Ohs. Latreille constructed this genus to receive such Linnacan 

 Sphinges as have a very short or indistinct tongue. The spe- 

 cies, although closely allied to those of the genus from which 

 they were separated, are yet distinguishable by their form of 

 body and habits of life. They are short, robust, and generally 

 remarkable by a handsome display of colors. They are never 

 seen to shoot, like meteors through the air, from flower to flower, 

 balancing the body at each, in order to extract sweets from the 

 nectary, but, unlike the Sphinx and humming-bird, their flight 

 is heavy and reluctant, and they receive food only in the state of 

 repose. 



The larva? are generally elongated, with lateral, oblique, 

 colored lines, and a prominent horn on the upper part of the pos- 

 terior extremity of the body. They feed on leaves, and undergo 

 their change to the pupa state in the earth, without the care of 

 constructing any regular coccoon. 



Smerinthus geminatus. — Specific character. Inner angle 

 of the posterior wings with a large black spot, in which are two 

 blue spots. 



Desc. Head tinged with ferruginous before ; vertex white ; an- 

 tennae whitish, pectens brown ; thorax whitish, with a dark brown 

 disk rounded before and gradually dilating behind ; superior 

 wings varied with brown and cinereous ; a dark semi-oval spot 

 at the tip is obvious and remarkable ; inferior wings yellowish, 

 with a red disk, and a large deep black spot of a similar shape 

 to that of the thorax, including two blue spots. 



Ohs. Closely allied to the occUata of Europe, and to the myops 

 and excaecata of our own country ; but it may be distinguished 

 from either by the double blue spot in the black patch on the pos- 

 terior wings. The excaecata I have not seen, and have therefore 

 to rely on Abbot's drawing of that insect, as given by Smith in 

 his splendid work, the " Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia," 

 where it is represented with a single large blue spot, in the place 

 of the two that exist on each posterior wing of the present spe- 



