34 



:\IEMOIKS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



In Citheroniii, espiH-ially ('. reiialix, we have a return to Adelofephala. with its prothoracic 

 horns and exuberant growth of spines, which are retained through all the stages of larval life. 

 The pupa, however, is more nioditied and diverges more widely than that of any other genus 

 from the other members of the subfamily, while the moths tend to have fairly well developed 

 maxilla', with which they lap up sweets, and sharp fore wings, anticipating the sphinges in their 

 shape. Which of these five genera gave origin to the ancestor of the Sphingidte is a question. 

 It must seem, however, as if the stem-form was an ally of Adelocephala. 



The probable course of phylogemetic development may be expressed l)y the following dia- 

 gram, which also indicates the classification of the group: 



Ci/^heronia. 



Eac/es 



Sys3p/ir'nx 



Anfsota 



A de/o cepha7a 



IX. 



//o/-o<^onfr'da.0 (//eterocampa) 



r\i,. 2.— Iiiagrnm to illustrate the affinities and phylogeny of the 

 Ceratocampinse. 



ON THE PHYLOGENY OF THE SPHINGIDiE; THEIR DERIVATION 

 FROM THE CERATOCAMPID^. 



In his "Hawk moths of North America "" (Bremen, issti) the late A. R. Grote remarks on 

 the intimate relationship between the Sphingidie and Bombycidie "suggested by the American 

 group of the Ceratocampida%" regarding the latter group as the "remains of an old type and 

 nearer to the hawk moths than any subfamily of the spinners now existing."' 



In his "Notes in 1887 upon lepidopterous larva'" (Trans. Ent. Soc., London, 1888), Professor 

 Poulton, from a study of the armature of sphingid larva- and that oi AijJ'in ton. states: "We 

 have therefore an accumulated body of facts which seem to render it certain that the SphingidiB 

 are a specialization of the group of Saturnian Bombyces, and that the following order represents 

 tiie nearest affinity and is an approach toward the expression of genetic relationship: Sphinx, 

 Acherontia. Smerinthus. Ceratomia, Lophostethus, Aglia, Ceratocampa (Attacus). Saturnia." He 

 adds: "The imaginal condition of the Sphingida> which come nearest to Aglia, etc., is also strongly 

 in favor of the above arrangement. They alone do not feed in the perfect state, and do not flj' 

 in the cliaracteristic manner of other hawk moths; in the strict sense of the word they are not 

 hawk moths. Their mode of flight, and especially their rudimentary and unused mouth parts, 

 ai'e further points of affinity to the Saturnians. 



"It therefore follows that the chief peculiarities of the Spiiingida>, tis opposed to the main 

 body of Bombyces— the fact that they feed largely and are greatly specialized in relation to 

 flowers — are characters which were absent from their Bombyciform ancestors, and are still absent 

 from Smerinthus, while they have been reacquired comparatively recently in the phyletic history 

 of the majority of Sphingida\ 



