(75) 



/;. P. iHcetiiis litcet/us. 



Sphinx lucelius StoU, I.e. 



*Prol,ijiarcc cuutroela Butler, Pnic. Zmil. Sue. Laml. p. 12 ( 1875) (Rio tie Jan. ;— Mns. Rri' .). 



Plihqiihimtins ronlrriria (?), Bonninghausen, Iris xii. p. 111. n. G (1898) (Petropolis). 



*Sjiliin:r /iiiiiaqtmr Berg, .1». Snc. Ciriil. Atyriil. xix. p. 2CG. n. 1 (1886) (Salta ; Catamavca ; Mus. 



Buenos Ay res). 

 PI,li(]Hlinnliu.t /Kwuquire (!), Kirby, Cat. Leji. 11, 1, i. p. 089. n. 2j (1892) (" Buenos Ayres" r.r rn:). 



<S ? . This form varies obviously in size and colour. The forewins is in some 

 specimens more elongate than in others; the marginal dots are liable to obliteration : 

 the base and disc are uot seldom strongly washed with russet, in which case the 

 medio-costal bla 'k area is very jirominent. The abdominal tergites are occasionally 

 edged with white. In three of our tjtj from S. Brazil the harpe extends a little 

 beyond the dorsal edge of the clasper, while in a fourth it reaches just to the edge. 



We have only one ? from Cayenne; it is ajiparently slightly faded; its fore- 

 wing is greyer in tone than in the southern specimens. Still more greyish olive 

 are two males (our only ones) from Chanchamayo, Pern ; in these the white fringe- 

 dots are very conspicuous, the harpe is rather narrower and at the ape.K nut twisted. 

 There is possibly a northern and a southern subspecies in South America. 



In a large ? from Argentina — no special locality is given — with black fringe 

 to tlie fiirewing, the black antemedian line of the hindwing is connected with the 

 double discal line only along (SM') ; another ¥ , from Buenos Ayres, has the fore- 

 wing much sutfused with black ; a specimen from Minas Geraes has no fringe-spots, 

 which are also absent in the specimens described as pnmtquire from Salta. 



As the insect is nut rare in southern Brazil it should uot be difficult to tind out 

 whether Peter's figures of the larva and pnpa are correct. 



Ilab. Surinam ; Peru ; Brazil ; Argentina. 



In the Tring Museum 11 c?c?, 13 ? ? from : Chanchamayo, Peru ; Cayenne ; 

 Minas Geraes, February (Kennedy) ; Nova Friburgo ; Santa Catherina ; Sao 

 Paulo ; Buenos Ayres ; Salta, N.W. Argentina. 



Besides the before-mentioned Salta specimen which we received from the 

 anther of piinatjuire, Dr. Berg sent us for comparison a "type" specimen oipa/uiquire. 

 We do not find these individuals different from some of our lucetius specimens from 

 Brazil. 



42. Protoparce petuniae. 



*S/,l,iit.r j,el„i,i„e Boisduval, Sjjn: Gin. Lip. Hit. i. p. 73. n. 5. t. 5. f. 2 (189.'i) (Brazil ;— coll. 

 Charles Oberthiir). 



StoU's rough figure of luceMus bears some resemblance to this species, but 

 represents undoubtedly the preceding insect named contractu by Butler. Boisduval 

 {I.e.) described under Imetim both tlie present species and lucetius, we believe, while 

 he considered the furni from the Province of Rio de Janeiro as distinct, naming it 

 petiiniiif ; the Argentinian subspecies, which is the most easily recognisable one, 

 lie trcati'd as a variety of petuniae, and again as a separate species under the 

 name of ceMri. Other authors have scarcely been more successful in dealing with 

 the present species and its relatives, and tliat is not to be wondered at, since these 

 Hpccies do not exhibit very striking e,xternal ditt'erences. 



i ?. Antenna shorter and slenderer than in seita. Discal and postdiscal lines 

 of npperside of forewing rather strongly angled near R-'', much less evenly carved 

 than in nexla ; the black and tlie buflish white spots of the fringe nearly ecpial 



