( Ixix ) 



disappeared. We raeet with this development, which is illustrated on PI. LXIV. 

 by tigs. 9 — lo, in Ae/ieroi!ti/iific and in Amhulicinai:, also in the other subfamilies, 

 but here less often. The intermediate stages are numerons ; bnt these are 

 generally of little systematic importance, as it is scarcely possible to distingnish 

 diagnostieally, for instance, between a long and a moderately long lobe. However, 

 intermediate stages in the development of the claw-segment are often wanting 

 between one species and its nearest ally, or between one genus nnd the next. 



The second line of development is represented by the two closely allieJ 

 genera Kentrochnjsalis and SpIiingulKs. The former possesses a" corai)lete 

 paronychinm and a pnlvillns ; the latter genus has only a piilviUus. Here 

 the paronychinm lias disa]ipeared liefore the pnlvillns. The intermediate stage 

 between the two genera is not known ; in this the iiaronychium would have one 

 lobe. Nor is the fourth stage without pnlvillns, the one following SpliiiKjidus, 

 as yet known. The fact of the ]inlvillus having been preserved in S/ikin(/itlus 

 and the paronychinm lost is important. Such an exception from the general 

 rule demonstrates that an external cause determined which of the possible lines 

 of development that single species out of many had to follow. A similar 

 development occurs among the Ambulicinae. 



The scaling of the tars'is and tibia is sometimes a distinguishing character of 

 genera. As a rule the mid- and hiudtibiae appear strongly compressed, owing to 

 the scaling being longer above and below than on the sides. The scaling between 

 and near the spurs is mostly long and tuft-like, and so is that ventrally at the 

 base of the first mid- and liindtarsal segments. In Pachi/gonia the proximal 

 segments of tlie hindtarsus appear triangularly dilated, owing to a high crest 

 of scales. The mid- and hindtarsi of }[ai'rogloxKUin and some other genera are 

 compressed, especially the first segment, which has become strongly asymmetrical, 

 its first inner row of spines being ventral, while the first outer row is almost 

 subdorsal. 



The singularly meagre success attained in the definition of genera of 

 Sphingidae by the authors of the old school — meagre even from their point 

 of view — was mainly due to the wings seldom offering in the neuration such 

 obvious distinctions as are found in other families of Lepidoptcra. The neuration 

 is indeed surprisingly constant in the main features, apart from some exceptions 

 like Cepkonodes with a very short cell to the hindwing, and Daplinusa with 

 SC" and R' of the hindwing on a long stalk. In consequence of this relative 

 constancy, the neuration of a Sphingid can scarcely be confounded with that of 

 species of ether families. On the forewing (PI. LXV. f. 1) we find a five-branched 

 Kubcosta, S(; ; the first branch, SC, arises between middle and end of cell ; SC 

 and SL" are on a long common stalk branching off before the upper angle of the 

 cell ; from this stalk SC^ turns towards the costal margin not far from the tip 

 of SC. In very many species, or in many individuals, SC is not present at all, 

 it being generally either very weak or absent ; the vein is of no constancy 

 whatever, and conseijnently of no taxonomic value within the family. SC ends 

 in the distal margin just below the tip of the wing, and joins here sometimes 



