216 ORDER LEPIDOPTERA. 



Chrysophancs phleas. Copper Butterfly. ( Plate xlvl, fig. 4.) 



Color copper-red above. Forewings margined with black : area of the disc marked with 

 six or seven oblong black spots. Hindwings, disc and base dusky black : posterior 

 margin red, trimmed with about six black spots, and lurnished with short tails. Be- 

 neath : Forewings, the disc is orange or cupreous orange, spotted with black, and 

 margined with ash. Hindwings, base and disc ash, spotted or dotted with black, and 

 bordered with faint copper-red. 

 Common at midsummer in the vicinity of Albany and Western Massachusetts. 



Hesperia PECKius (Kirby). Peck's Hesperia. ( Plate xxxii, fig. 8.) 



Color brown, paler beqeath. Both pair of wings widely bordered with brown : area of the 

 discs bright yellow, with a band of brown extending outwards from the base, ciliate ; 

 cilise fuscous. Beneath, the area of the discs is occupied with yellow patches, ir- 

 regular in form ; that upon the liindwing is usually double. The body is clothed with 

 long yellowish brown hairs, especially upon the breast. 

 There is considerable diversity in the form or shape of the yellow patches on the discs : 

 in some, the whole area of the disc of the forewings is yellow. It is very probable, how- 

 ever, that this may prove a species distinct from the peckius. The latter is common in fields 

 in Western Massachusetts and Eastern New-York, in July. 



^SpMngidae. 



HAWKMOTHS. 



This family of Lepidoptera has received the special attention of naturalists from Linn.s:us 

 down to the present time. They fly with great strength and vigor, with a bird-like motion 

 of their wings ; and are capable of sustaining their flight for a long time, and of poising 

 themselves in the air like the hummingbird while sucking the nectar of flowers. The 

 tongue is coiled compactly when not in use, and frequently exceeds the body in length. 

 The antenniB are prismatic, presenting in a cross section the segment of a circle on one 

 side, while others are formed by two curved lines meeting in such a way as to make an 

 edge on the opposite side : it often terminates in a feather-like tuft. The labial palpi are 

 broad and compressed ; but the labrum and mandibles are rudimentary, as they are not 

 required for taking food. 



The larvse are naked, cylindrical, and supplied with sixteen feet, and ordinarily a horn 

 Is placed on the eleventh segment of the body : they are commonly ornamented with 

 oblique stripes on the sides. They usually descend into the earth when their transformation 



