99 



METOPSILUS TERSA. 



PLATE V. Fig. 1. 



Sphinx tersa, Linn. Mant., p. 538 ; Cramer, Pap. Exot., t. 397, 

 fig. C. •, Abbot and Smith, Lepid. Geor., i. pi. 38. — Deilephila 

 tersa, Drury, vol. i. pi. 28, fig. 3. 



This prettily marked insect affords a very charac- 

 teristic example of that section of sphinges which 

 presents a distinctive modification in the form of 

 the anterior wings, a peculiarity associated with 

 another in the appearance of the caterpillars, which 

 are rather suddenly attenuated in front, and have the 

 power of drawing these narrowed segments within 

 each other. This group, to which we have given 

 the subgeneric name of Metopsilus, * has the an- 

 tennas but slightly clavate, the anterior wings very 

 acute at the apex, with a sinuosity or emargination 

 on the hinder edge just below the tip, which gives 

 them a somewhat falcate shape ; the inner margin 

 likewise sinuated behind the middle. The cater- 

 pillars are ornamented with eye-like spots on some 

 of the anterior segments; the anal horn in most 

 cases distinct, but occasionally obsolete. "We have 

 several elephant hawkmoths, as the members of 

 * See Nat. Lib. Ent., vol. iv. p. 154. 



