Sphingidae 



which run into each other to such an extent as to make it often 

 impossible to distinguish them. These forms are Sphinx astarte 

 Strecker, in which the outer margin of the fore wing is a little 

 less dentate, and the brown markings of the same wing are a 

 little narrower; Sphinx ophthalmica Boisduval, which has rather 

 pale fore wings; Sphinx pallidulus Henry Edwards, in which 

 the color of the fore wings is cinnamon-gray; and Sphinx saliceti 

 Boisduval, in which the blue markings of the ocellus on the 

 hind wing do not form a ring, but appear as two opposed 

 crescents. 



The insect is comparatively rare in the eastern part of the 

 continent, but is not uncommon in the western States. It 

 ranges from Canada in the north to the upper portions of the 

 Gulf States, and westward to the Pacific, extending its habitat 

 southward along the high lands of Mexico. 



(2) Sphinx jamaicensis Drury. 



Normal form geminatus Say, Plate IV, Fig. 11, ^. (The 

 Twin-spot Sphinx.) 



This beautiful hawkmoth was originally named and described 

 in error by Drury as coming from the Island of Jamaica. He also 

 was so unfortunate as to have had for his type an aberrant speci- 

 men in which the ocellus of the hind wing had but one blue 

 spot. Such specimens nov/ and then occur, and have been 

 obtained by breeding from the normal form, to which Say gave 

 the nsLme geminatus. Specimens also sometimes occur in which 

 there are three blue spots in the ocellus, and Mr. Grote gave to 

 this aberrant form the name tripartitus. 



The caterpillar feeds upon willows, birches, and various 

 species of wild-cherry. The insect is quite common in the 

 Middle Atlantic States, and ranges from southern Canada to the 

 Carolinas and northern Georgia, and westward to eastern Kansas 

 and Iowa. 



Genus GALAS YM BOLUS Grote 



The genus differs from Sphinx in the fact that the head is 

 crested, and the hind wing is on its costal margin toward the 

 apex produced into a somewhat broad lobe. There are three 

 species recognized as belonging to the genus, all of which we 

 figure. 



55 



