SMERINTHUS OPTIlALMtCUS. 59 



cided character, and the color is not gray or ashen, but oC a general pale reddisli brown or unibcr tint, on 

 both upper and lower surfaces ; the eosta of primaries in this example is nuioii more rounded than in any I 

 iiave seen from California. 



This rare insect is the nearest American analogue of the European S. Ocellata, L., a fact alluded to by 

 Dr. Boisduval in his very sliort description.* The species is so rare, tiiat, until recently, but ihw opportunities 

 have offered i'or the entomologist to examine it in nature. Dr. Clemens, who had evidently novi^r seen an ex- 

 ample, tiiouglit it might possibly be a variety of S. (jieminatus,t into which snp]insition he was doubtless led 

 by Dr. Jioisduval's remark in the description above alluded to. 



The s])ecimen referred to by Mr. Grote,J as coming from the Isthmus, is a female of this species ; the party 

 from whom I obtained it had collected in Cosla liica, but before coming east ho visited California, and so- 

 journed there awhile, receiving additional material I'rom that sfate, 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 ])erpetrated by the thundering 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 their proper size. When it came into my possession the abdomen had been left somewhere in 

 California, but the conscientious collector, in order to give quantum sufficit, had replaced it with one of Arach- 

 nis picta. 



SMERINTHUS CERISYL Kirby. 



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



{l'r,.\TE VII, FIG. 3, r?.) 



:Male. Expands 2| to .3 inches. 



Head and palpi brown ; thorax pale ashen, nearly white, with a large dirk brown dorsal patch ; abdomen 

 brownish grey above, pale ashen beneath. 



Upper surflice; primaries, pale ash-colored with numerous brown, undulate, transverse lines and shade.?; 

 a white discal mark, which color is continued along the median nervurc to the pale basal patch; 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 ])upil ; the Idue does not quite unite, opposite the inner mnrcin, in surrounding 

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



Under surface; primaries, basal half dull rose-colored; outer half marked as on upper side, hu( paler and 

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



Of the lemale nothing is known. 



This is certainly the rarest of all the heretofore described X. American Sphingida? ; but three authentic 

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

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

 otherwise it is probably lost ; the second one was taken by the late Robt. Kennicott at Rupert House, iu 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 origlnaT of figure 3, I i-eceived in a small 

 collection of things from near Providence, Rhode Island. 



''"LeS. Opthalmica a,ss(z rapprocho do notre ocellata, plus voisin do Gemina'us fie Sav, mais I'oeil n'ofit pas double et il differe de toutes les 

 especes (hi meme groupe par sa large bando bruno, ansulcuse, (lui traverse le milieu des aile? suporieure?.'' Aun. Soc. Ent.. Fr., t. Ill, 3me sor. 

 .\x.\n. (1855 ) .-II 1 . , , 



t Jul. Aead. Nat. So., Phila., p. 184. (1859.) 

 V \ T^ " V-f'"'/!/!"'" ^^'' ^^'^^''^^'^ that a specimen referable to this genus has been received from the Isthmus." Grote, in Bull. P.nfr. .Soc. Nat. Sc, 



§ "Body ash-colored ; thorax with a Large trapezoidal brown spot dilated next the abdomen ; primaries ansulatcrt, nsh-colored, with a transverse 

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

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

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

 uusuy, cinereus with a whitish band coinciding with that of the primaries, a transverse series of crescents and adentated brownish band, all rather in- 

 ciistmct; ijut the most conspicuous character oT the secondaries is a large eyelet situated at the anal angle, consisting of a black pupil, nearly, but not 

 quite surrounded by a blue ins, 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. 



■ < ''^I'i^ insect appears to be the American representative of S. Occlltiliis, from which, however, it difTers considerably. It comes very ne.ar .V. Ctm- 

 tnaius, [i^nf, Am. Lnl. I. t. xii,) but in that the eyelet has two blue pupils. Taken in North America, locality not stated."— Kirby, Fauna Boreall- 

 Americann, \ ol. IV, p. 302. (1h;!7.) ■ 



