Sphingidae 



Genus AMPHION Hubner 



Head small. Eyes small, hemispherical. Palpi rather short. 

 Tongue nearly as long as the body. Antennae fusiform with a 

 long curved hook at the tip. Body plump, somewhat globose, 

 the thorax projecting very little beyond the insertion of the 

 primaries, and the abdomen terminating in a conspicuous fan-like 

 tuft. The fore wings are comparatively short and narrow, exca- 

 vated on the outer margin below the apex and above the inner 

 angle, which is strongly produced. The inner margin is deeply 

 sinuate. The hind wings are bluntly lobed at the anal angle. 

 There is only one species in the genus. 



(i) Amphion nessus Cramer, Plate II, Fig. 18, $ . (The 

 Nessus Sphinx.) 



This species, which may easily be recognized from the figure 

 on the plate, is not uncommon in the Middle States. It ranges 

 from Canada to Georgia and westward to Wyoming. It flies in 

 the daytime on cloudy days and in the late afternoon before sun- 

 set. The caterpillar feeds on Ampelopsis and the wild grape. 



Genus POGOCOLON Boisduval 



This small genus, which is closely related in many structural 

 respects to Proserpinus, differs from it very decidedly in the form 

 as well as in the habits of the insects belonging to it. In the 

 structure of the antennas and neuration of the wings the insects 

 belonging to Pogocolon show a close relationship to the insects 

 referred to the genus Proserpinus, but the form of the abdomen 

 is wholly different, elongated, cylindrical, and not bombyliform. 

 The moths, moreover, are crepuscular, whereas the moths re- 

 ferred to the genus Proserpinus are diurnal in their habits, in this 

 respect resembling the species of the genus Hccmorrhagia. 

 There are at least three species belonging to this genus. 



(i) Pogocolon gaurae Abbot & Smith, Plate II, Fig. n, $. 

 (The Gaura Sphinx.) 



The upper side of this small species is sufficiently delineated 

 in the plate to require no verbal description. On the under side 

 the wings are vinous brown, shading on the outer third into 

 olive-green, and reproducing the maculation of the upper surface. 

 The hind wings are deep olive at the base, passing into yel- 

 lowish green outwardly. 



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