34 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



appendages. Oar system of carding renders these distinctions 

 difficult to estimate, but they are very apparent in specimens 

 mounted on one side, which is the normal position they seem 

 to assume on the gum. 



G. R. Crotch. 



University Library, Cambridge, 

 February 8, 1866. 



Description of the Larva of Sphinx Ligitstri. — The eggs 

 are laid singly, on the leaves of Ligustrum vulgare (privet) 

 and Syringa vulgaris (lilac), in June, and the young larvge 

 emerge in about fourteen days; at first they have a rough 

 surface, like shagreen, but after moulting become perfectly 

 smooth : I have had examples of this larva seven weeks in 

 that state, and have only observed a single moult, but it 

 seems scarcely credible that only one should occur. It is 

 full-fed in August and September, and is then one of the 

 most beautiful of British larvae. It rests with the anterior 

 segments elevated and arched, the head tucked in, the legs 

 closely crowded together, its attitude having a distant re- 

 semblance to the Egyptian statues of the Sphinx, whence the 

 name of the genus. Head narrower than the 2nd segment, 

 into which, when at rest, it is partially received, rather 

 rough, the face flat, the outer margin of the cheeks convex, 

 the crown slightly notched : 2nd segment narrower than the 

 3rd and 4lh, which are dorsally gibbous ; the remainder of 

 the body uniformly cylindrical ; the limits of the segments 

 marked with some distinctness, and each divided transversely 

 into eight sections : the 12th segment bears a dorsal horn, 

 slightly and elegantly curved, scabrous, and having a very 

 acute tip. Colour of the head dull green, with a dark purple, 

 almost black, exterior margin to the cheeks : body of a deli- 

 cate apple-green ; the 2nd, 3rd and 4th segments without 

 markings; the others, that is the 5th to the 11th, both in- 

 clusive, with an oblique stripe on each side, which is of two 

 colours arranged longitudinally, the upper margin delicate 

 violet, the lower pure white, the white continued in the same 

 direction in four minute dots ; the spiracles are yellow, with 

 a reddish centre, and adjoin the lower margin of the vi'hite 



