THE REVISION OF THE SPHINGIDES. 75 



It is blue, with wlaite cores, and surrounded by a black line. The horn 

 is pendent and is blunt at the end. It will thus be seen that the 

 ocellated spot is of a very variable nature, and, by the fact that, of the 

 eleven figures mentioned, only two represent the horn as terminating 

 in a point, we may assume that the blunt ending of it is the normal 



type. 



The Revision of the Sphingides— Nomenclature, Classification, 

 Geographical Distribution. 



(Cuncluded fro)ii p, 47.) 



A. true classification must present us with a series of dichotomous 

 (rarely trichotomous or more highly divided) divisions, of which the two 

 portions are more likely than not very unequal. 



In the Sphinges we have a decisive division into two branches, 

 which the authors of the Revision tell us they recognised before they 

 discovered a very valuable typical character in a sensory patch on the 

 palpi, present in the Choerocampids [Semanoplwme) and absent in the 

 Sphinges {Aseinaiiophorae). These two branches are now represented 

 by species distinguished in the larval state in the Choerocampids by 

 having a more primitive tuberculation when young, and an adult 

 pattern of markings of longitudinal stripes and ocellated marks. The 

 Sphinges have larvas more advanced when newly-hatched, and leave the 

 longitudinal markings behind in their early instars and assume the 

 well-known oblique stripes. As pup^e, the primitive Sphinges retained 

 earlier characters, which still remain in one section (the Smerinthids). 

 In their further evolution both sections developed long tongues, and 

 both tried to accoinmodate them in the pupa by throwing the head 

 back, in a way that does not occur in any other long-tongued groups. In 

 Sphinges this only progressed a certain length before the tongue-horn 

 of the pupa developed and relieved the strain. In the Choerocampids 

 the head was pushed further and further back, until it became quite 

 dorsal, and the tongue formed a long, flat, projecting keel round the 

 front of the pupa, and only after this had become extreme did it take 

 the form of a horn. This, in Rhyncnlaha acteus is quite anterior, and 

 not ventral as in Sphinges. 



The Sphinges {Asemanophorae) again divided into Sphingines 

 {Acherontiinae) and Smerinthines {Ambulicinae) . The reality of these 

 two branches is fully recognised in the Revision, but we are told that 

 there is no single distinguishing chararacter applying to all species. 

 This is more or less true at many points in most classifications of 

 insects, and it is especially true in Sphingides. We have, for instance, 

 broadly said above, that the Sphinges {Asenianopliorae) have obliquely- 

 striped larvie, yet Hyloicus pinastri has the primitive longitudinal 

 stripes when it is small, and also has much the same stripes 

 when adult. These are, however, entirely comparatively recent 

 adaptive modifications, the ancestor of H. pinastri was no doubt 

 obliquely striped. 



Now, it happens, that there is one good character separating the 

 Sphingines from the Smerinthines, a character in which the 



* .'( Rcvidoti of the Lcpiclopterous Family Sphingidae. By the Hon. Walter 

 llothsehild, Ph.D.,' and Karl .Jordan. M.A., Ph.D. Supplement to Nov. Zool., 

 vol. ix. Pp. cxxxx + 972. PI. 67. Tring, April, 190B. 



