188 JOHN B. SMITH. 



In a later number Mr. Strecker positively identifies this species 

 with pinastri. 



I am not quite ready to believe him correct. I would rather be- 

 lieve in a species closely resembling the European form, but not 

 identical with it. 



I have given none of the European bibliography as that can be 

 readily gotten from any European work on Lepidoptera. I shall 

 watch with interest the reappearance of this species. In the Euro- 

 pean form the spurs of middle and hind tibife are very long, the 

 former not spinose. Anterior tibiae sparsely spinose, the first tarsal 

 joint with longer outer spines ; the armature not very heavy. 



S. sequoia' Bi., Lep. Cal. 1869, 66, Sphinx; Hy. Edw., Pr. Cal. Ac. Sci. 1873, 

 93 ; Grt., Buff. Bull, i, 27, Hyloicus ; id. ii, 228, Hylokus ; Bd., Sp. Geu. Lep. 

 Het. i, 101, Sphinx; Strk., Lep. Ehop. et Het. 117, pi. 13, fig. 17, Sphinx; 

 Butl.. Tr. Zool. Soc. Lond. ix. 616, Hyloicus. 



% coniferarum Wlk., C. B. M. Lep. Het. viii, 224; But!., Tr. Zool. Soc. Lond. 

 ix. 616, pr. syn. 



Head and thorax light gray, sprinkled with black, with two indistinct black 

 lines on the occiput, reaching to prothorax, and thence spreading towards the 

 sides of the tegulai. Abdomen gray, witli black dorsal line. The segments are 

 whitish at their base, the five posterior with a black sublinear patch on their 

 outer edges. Anteunfe white above, gray beneath. Feet wholly gray, spotted 

 with black. Primaries gray, indistinctly dotted with black, with four or five 

 very faint black lines, the longest near the apex. Fringes grayish brown, inter- 

 sected with white. Secondaries grayish fuscous, entirely without bands. The 

 fringes are white, intersected with brown, except toward anal angle, where they 

 are wholly whitish. Expands 2 inches; 50 mm. 

 Hab. — California. 



The anterior and middle tibire of this species are very heavily 

 spinose, as is also the first tarsal joint, which has the heavy outer 

 armature of chersls. The legs are, however, rather short, and the 

 spurs are weak. This makes one of the intermediate forms between 

 Sphinx and Hyloicus, and prevents the separation of the lattei- as a 

 distinct genus. 



The species is a neatly marked and very recognizable one, as the 

 description, which was taken from Edwards, shows. I have not been 

 able to examine the S genitalia. 



Mr. Strecker gives an excellent figure of this species in Pt. XIII, 

 p. 117, pi. xiii, fig. 17, of his work. 



Mr. Edwards in recording the first capture of a specimen states 

 that it was hovering at mid-day over a pool of water, darting down 

 occasionally to drink. 



