140 Mr. G. R. Gray’s Synopsis of the Species 
You will be so kind as to excuse the faults of this account as 
set up by a foreigner little skilled in the use of the language, and 
who endeavoured to make it as intelligible as he could. 
XXVI. Synopsis of the Species belonging to the Genus 
Castnia. By George Robert Gray, Esq. M.E.S. 
[Read February 2, 1835.] 
(Plate XIII.) 
Although tw 7 o monographs of the Fabrician genus Castnia have 
appeared, I am induced to draw up the following synopsis of spe- 
cies to obviate the great confusion that exists between them, 
as the same species of insect has often been described under two 
distinct names by the respective authors. 
The monograph by Dalman (1825) contains eighteen species, 
tw r o of which are new, and two species (published by Cramer) not 
noticed by Godart and Latreille, whose monograph appeared in 
the ninth volume of the “ Encyclopedic Methodique” (1819). 
The latter is also composed of eighteen species, but five of them 
were new to science, and two of the species, previously published, 
were not noticed by Dalman. To these I have added all the 
newly described species from various works, and have subjoined 
several new species, which are in the superb Lepidopterous col- 
lection of Mrs. Children. 
The insects of this genus are particularly “ confined to the tro- 
pical region of America.” Mr. Swainson tells us, “ that they fly 
only during the meridian heat, and then with incredible rapidity : 
they frequent the inlets of the thick forests, occasionally resting, 
far above the ground, on the trunks of trees.” 
Their metamorphoses unfortunately are at present enveloped in 
doubt, though Madam Merian has given what she considered 
figures of the larva and chrysalis of Castnia licus. The larva 
bears great similarity to that of Sphinx vespertilio, while the chry- 
salis is represented, fixed by its tail, in the manner of those of 
Morpho and other diurnal butterflies. 
The antennae of these insects are shorter than the body ; 
strongly clubbed near the apex, with the latter somewhat hooked, 
which is sometimes formed by a series of long narrow scales, 
giving them much the appearance of the antennae of Hesperia;. 
