SMERINTHUS OPTHALMIOT^S. $9 



cided character, and the color is not gray or ashen, but of a trcneral pale roddisii brown or miiber tint, on 

 both upper and lower surfaces: iho costa of primarie- in this exainplo i* niiieh more rf)iindpd than in any I 

 have seen from California. 



Tiiis rare insect is the nearest American analogue of the European !S. Oecllata, L., a fact alluded to by 

 Dr. Boisduval in his very short description.* The species is so rare, that, until recently, but few opportunities 

 have offered lor the entomologist to examine it in nature. Dr. Clemens, who had evidently never seen an ex- 

 ample, thought it might ])ossil)ly bo a variety of S. ( rcminatus,'!" into -wliicli supposition \\v. was doubtless led 

 by Dr. Boisduvars remark in the description above alluded to. 



The .si)eeimen referred to by Mr. Grote,| as coming from the Isthmus, is a female of this species ; the party 

 from whom I obtained it had collected in Costa Iviea, but before coming east he visited California, and so- 

 journed there awhile, receiving additional material from that state, which he was by no means careful to keep 

 apart from his more southern collections. This example has been the victim of a series of atrocious abuses, the 

 first of which was ])crj)etrated by the liiundering fool who captured it, and who merits the unmitigated con- 

 tempt of all scientists on earth, and torments unspeakable hereafter, in Hades; this talented individual came 

 across the poor thing just after it had emerged from the pupa, and killed it before the wings had expanded to 

 one-fourth of tiieir proper size. When it camo into my possession the abdomen had been left somewhere in 

 California, but the con-icientiou- nolloctor, in order to give (piantum xuflic.U, had rcjilaced it with one of Aracli- 

 nis picta. 



SMERINTHUS CERISYL Kirbt. 



Fauna Boreali-Ampricana, Vol. IV, p. 302, t. -1, fig. 4. (1837.) 

 (rLATE VII, FIG. 3, -^.) 



Male. Expands 2f to 3 inches. 



Head and palpi brown ; thorax pale ashen, nearly white, v.ifh :\ large dirk brown dorsal patch ; abdomen 

 brownish grey above, pale ashen beneath. 



Upper surface; primaries, pale ash-colored with numerous brown, undulate, transverse lines and shades; 

 a white discal mark, which color is continued along the median nervure to the pale basal j)atch ; joining this 

 latter exteriorly, and between the median nervure and interior margin, is a brown patch or cloud. Secondaries 

 rose-colored, but of a less lively tint than in any other species; towards the exterior margin the rose color is 

 tinged with greyish; costal and interior margins white, or nearly so; ocellus black, containing a blue iris 

 which almost encircles a black pupil; the blue does not quite unite, opposite the inner margin, in surrounding 

 the pupil ; the occlhis is prolonged towards, and connects with the anal angle. 



Under surface ; primaries, i)asal half dull rose-colored; outer half marked as on u]iper side, but ]ialer and 

 less distinctly. iSecondaries white, with pale brown, undulate, transverse bands. 



Of the female nothing is known. 



This is certainly the rarest of all the heretofore described N. American Sphingid.T ; but tlirce authentic 

 examples, all male, are known ; the first was figured and described by Kirby, in 1837, S who did not know in 

 what precise locality it was captured ; this example, perhaps, may still be preserved in the British iluseum, 

 otherwise it is probably lost ; the second one was taken by the late Robt. Kennicott at Rupert House, in Brit- 

 ish America, and is at present in the Museum of Comp. Zool. at Cambridge ; this is the largest specimen of 

 the three, expanding about three inches. The third and last, the original of figure •), T received in a small 

 collection of things from near Providence, Rhode Island. 



* " Lc S. Opthahnica assez rapproche de notre ocellata^ plus voisiu de Geinina'us de Say, mais I'oeil n'cst pas double et il differe de toutes k's 

 cspeces du meme groupe par sa large bande brune, aDiruleuse, tiui travor--o lc milieu des ailes snperieure?.'' Ann. Soc. Ent.. Fr., t. Ill, 3me 3or. 

 xxxii. (1S55 ) 



t Jnl. Acnd, Nat. 3o., Phila., p. 184. (1859.) 



j " I leai-n fmni Mr. Streokcr that aepccimen referable to this genus has boon "-ceeived from the Isthmus. " Grote, in Bull. BufT. Soo. Xat. Sc, 

 Vol. I. p. a). (1S73 ) 



§ " Body ash-oolored ; thorax with a large trapezoidal brown spot dilated next the alflomen ; primaries angulatcd, ash-colored, with a transverse 

 series of brown, sub-marginal crescents in a paler band, between which and the posterior margin is another obsolete piiler one ; above the crescents is 

 a straight, whitish band, and a linear angular forked one, under the internal sinuses of which the wings are clouded with dark brown ; underneath, 

 the above markings of the wings are very indistinct ; the secondaries are rose-color, paler at the costal and posterior margins : underneath they are 

 dusky, cinereus with a whitish band coinciding with that of the primaries, a transverse series of crescents and adentated brownish band, all ratherin- 

 distinct : but the most conspicuous character of the secondaries is a large eyelet situated at the anal angle, consisting of a black pupil, nearly, but not 

 quite surrounded by a blue iris, and situated in a black triangular spot or atmosphere which extends to the anal angle, and is surmounted by some 

 blue scales; the abdomen above is dusky ash-colored. 



This insect appears to be the American representative of S. Occllalus, from which, however, it differs considerably. It comes very near S. Gem- 

 inafus, (Say, Am. £»!. I, t. xii,) but in that the evelet has two blue pupils. Taken in N'orth America, looalitv not stated.'"— Kirby, Fauna Boreall- 

 Americana, Vol. IV, p. 302. (1837.) 



