102' NATURAL ARRANGEMENT OF INSECTS. 



greater. All these, however, are more or less distin- 

 guished by a lengthened, pointed body, terminated by a 

 tuft of hairs : in some, these tufts are very small ; while 

 in others, particularly the clear- winged Sesia, or bee- 

 like family, they are very conspicuous. The larvte pre- 

 sent us with more instances of variation than the last ; 

 but, so far as we have discovered, the pupa (A) is 

 always enclosed in some substance, either as a protection 

 or as a defence; and this stage of its life is passed at, 

 or very near, the surface of the ground : the proboscis 

 is hid under the common fold enveloping the body of 

 the pupa; and is not protruded, as in the last division. 

 So little has been effected towards the discrimination of 

 this very natural group, that we shall not attempt a na- 

 tural disposition of the few genera that have yet been 

 defined. 



(98.) The aberrant division of the tribe appears to 

 be composed of three families : 1. The Agaristida, or 

 Hesperian sphinxes. 2. The Zyganidce, or clear- winged 

 sphinxes : and, 3. the Castniada, or moth sphinxes. 

 The first, in its typical perfection, is almost confined to 

 India and New Holland. The perfect insect more re- 

 sembles a Hesperia than a Sphinx, or rather, seems in- 

 termediate between a Bombyx and a Hesperia. The 

 antennae are sometimes thickest in the middle, in unison 

 with the general character of the whole tribe ; yet the 

 tips are slightly but abruptly hooked, as in the Hes~ 

 peridce. These curious and apparently anomalous cir- 

 cumstances appear to have much perplexed some writers. 

 Dr. Leach seems inclined to place the Agaristidce with 

 the moths, near to Noctua Sponsa, but he confesses his 

 doubts on the subject; while Donovan brings them in 

 with the Hesperidce. The larva of the only species yet 

 known, very much resembles that of a full-bodied Sesia 

 deprived of its horn ( fig. 7. ) ; while the pupa (b) 

 is enclosed in a slight web, Cf spun on the stem of its food 

 under the leaves *;" and the perfect insect flies by day- 



* Lewin's Ins. of New South Wales, pi. 1. 



