126 SMERINTHUS IMPERATOR. 



wliat, (lorsally and with a taint dorsal Hue of violaceous extending the whole length. Beueatii pale fawn; legs 

 violaceous. 



UpjJei- surftice ; primaries, general style of ornamentation somewhat as in Modesta, Harr. Basal third of 

 wing verv pale violaceous grey, yellowish at base, and traversed in its middle from costa to inner margin by an 

 irregulardarker shade; the outer edge of the basal third is very irregular and produced in a sharp angle at the 

 innerhiost median nervule, and is narrowly shaded where it joins the median space by darker tint; the inner 

 half of the median .space is tinted with brownish, the outer half is same pale violaceous grey as the basal part; 

 the outer edge of the median space is scalloped and shaded with darker grey ; a large pale discal mark ; the 

 third or terminal space is of the same pale grey as the major part of rest of wing, shaded on costal half with 

 pale yellowi.'^h fawn, a darker patch on inner margin not tar from inner angle. Secondaries dull crimson, yel- 

 lowish white at inner margin, and a large ])ale grey jiatch covers that part of the wing at and near the anal 

 angle, within which patch is a blackish dash parallel with outer margin, between which latter and said dash is 

 a faint grey abbreviated line extending from the anal angle inwards to where the crimson colour commences. 

 Under surt'ace of all wing.s very pale yellow-ish fawn with a broad terminal band but a shade darker ; basal half 

 of primaries dull crimson, which colour does not however extend to either costa or inner margin, and the discal 

 mark is designated by the pale fiiwn of ground colour of wing. 



Hab Arizona. One ?, Mus. Strecker. 



This ditfers from its nearest ally, Modesto, Harr., in the far greater breadth of wing, the great robustness 

 of body, the entirely different colour and in the diiference of the undulations of the transverse lines and shades, 

 also in the shape and greater size of the discal mark or bar. In Modesta and its Pacitic coast var. OccidenUilis, 

 Hv. Edwds , the colours are even, smooth shades, well detined and separated from each other by demarkation 

 lines, whilst in Jmperator the colours are Ijleuded more (jr less into each other and have a heavy po\\-dery ap- 

 pearance, the scales being far heavier and rougher as seen through a lens than in Harris' species. Imperator 

 approaches the var. Occidentalis somewhat, and somewhat only, in the paleness of the ground colour, but be- 

 vond this there is no nearer approach than to the stem form typical Modenta, to which Occidentalis assimilates 

 in every respect except being paler in colour and generally of larger size. 



For lliis species, which I consider one of the grandest acquisitions our Heterocerons fauna luis for a long time received, as well 

 as for a large number of other rare and new species from inner Arizona and Utah, I am indebte<l to the energy and perseverance of 

 Mr. B. Neumoegen of New York. Heretofore, owing to its being mainly in jjossession of the Indians, as well as to its unfavorable 

 climate and general sterility, the representation of the Lep. fauna of Arizona was of the most meagre description imaginable, comprised 

 in a few examples in the coll. of W. H. Edwds., and fewer still in the Mus. of the Agricultural Dep. at Washington, all derived from 

 the same source, the chance collections of government exploring and surveying parties. For years Arr/ynnis Nokomis w.is known only 

 by a single tattered r^, and later for a long time by a few more, rj' and 9- When my friend Neumoegen commenced a few years since 

 to studv and collect Lepidoi)tera, to which he applied himself with an energy seldom equaled, I impressed on him the importance of 

 obtaining examples from Arizona, giving him drawings and descriptions o( Nokomis and some other prominent species. By indefati- 

 gable industry he secured collectors who from inner Arizona, in a remarkably short time, sent a large quantity of the most interesting 

 material, among which were the above described splendid Smerinlkus, as well as a numlier of others new to science, which will be de- 

 scribed in the present and future (larts of this work. In the first lot received of these .Arizona Lep. were a number of both sexes of the 

 coveted Nokomis, but unfortunately the season was so far advanced wlien the onslaught commenced tliat all were torn or too long down 

 to be desirable ; the glory of laier^endiugs made however ample amends for this first quasi disappointment. A large proportion of 

 tliese insects seem to be remarkably pale aberrant forms or representations of Pacific or Eastern species; prominent in this respect are 

 Mel. Alma, n. s., Arg. Nokomis, W. H. Edwds., Pap. Utahensis, n. s. or v., Sph. Elsa. n. s., Pseud. NuUalli and others. Arg. Nokomis 

 I have always considered as an extreme variety of ^1. Cybele. os I believe (he Anioor and North China A. Sagaiur" may be a form of the 

 East Europe A. Laodice; but to this subject I will revert in tny description of the various new species from this wonderland. 



I cannot omit mentioning another slill more astonishing thir.g, in connection with the reception of these .\rizona novelties, which, in- 

 credible as it may appear, is nevertheless a fact, to the truth of which I am willing at any time to be qualified with jirojier jurat 

 apjjended ; it is that when Mr. Neumoegen passed them to me for description he did not even hint, let alone make it the condition, that 

 any of the new species should be named after himself, his wife, his aunts or his consins-german, his grandparents, the stranger within 

 his gates, or even after his rich neighbor. May his skeleton be preserved ! 



SPHINX ELSA. Nov. Sp. 



(PLATE XIV, FIG. 4 c?, o ?.) 



Mai.e. Expands 2| inches. 



Head and thorax above jiale ro.se colour, latter black towards and at base, but with :i mark composed of 

 two contiguous ro.se coloured crescents at its juncture with the abdomen; the latter marked laterally much as in 

 Drupiferurum, Ab.-Sm., but owing to the scales being much rubbed from the back in both cj' and 9 it is impos- 

 sible to describe that ])art with accuracy, though from the general appearance of the insect I should be led to 

 infer tliiit the brotid dorsal baud was whitish or tinged with rose. Antennae heavy, serrated and Ijlaek save 



*C? ^. Sagana, Dbldy.-Hew., Gen. Diur. Le|i., t. 24', tig. 1, (1850). ? is Damara Paulina, Nord., Bull. Mos., 11, p. 440, t. 12, 

 f. 1, 2, (ISol). 



