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 Sesicp, or bee- 

 like family, they are very conspicuous. The larvce 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 Agaristidce, or 

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

 sphinxes : and, 3. the Castniadce, 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 Bomhyx and a Hesperia, The 

 anteniiiE 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- 

 ppridie. 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 x.o Noctun 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. a) ; while the pupa {b) 

 is enclosed in a slight web, '■ 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. 



