MCANA 



VOL. I. 



BROOKLYN, fiUGUST, 1885. 



NO. 5. 



An Introduction to a classification of the N. A. Lepidoptera 



By John B. Smith. 

 (Continued from "Bulletin" VII, p. 141.) 



In the previous papers of the series is given a synopsis of the families 

 of the Lepidoptera and a review of the genera of the Rhopalocera. The 

 present paper deals with the Sphingidce which in our lists are catalogued 

 immediately after the Rhopalocera. 



This group or division has had rather a hard time of it at the hands 

 of recent authors, no two lists being alike. Sometimes there would be 

 a dozen species to a genus, then a dozen genera each with one species, 

 and in the next list we would find as many genera, but with different 

 names, or the same genera differently applied. To straighten out the 

 confusion thus caused will be the task of the monographer of the group, 

 and is beyond the province of this paper; those names which are used in 

 Mr. Grote's most recent list will be used here, though not all of the 

 genera are adopted and the sequence is changed. 



On this point of sequence of genera, I have adopted an order based 

 on their structural relations. It is a matter of small importance 

 because the genera are interchangeably related, Arctonotus for in- 

 stance having the structural characters of both Pogocolon and Smerinthus, 

 while Deidamia unites Smerinthus with Sphinx. No linear classification 

 will therefore show the true relationship of the genera, and my scheme 

 is to begin with the most typical genus of the series and thence work to 

 that form most nearly like the following group. lam unable to com- 

 prehend why Mr. Grote places the "Phalasnoides" (Smerinthides) between 

 the "Eumorphae" [Philampdus and allies) and the "Manducae" {Sphinges) 



