74 REV. A. MILES BIOSS ON THE 



exaggeration, that the contribution towards our knowledge of the Sphingidse contained 

 in the following pages is one of the most important ever published on the Hawk-Moths 

 of any tropical country. The drawings have the great advantage of being taken from 

 life and representing the specimens in natural attitudes. The notes on the habits 

 of the insects which Mr. Moss has added to the descriptions are likewise of great 

 interest, and, I hope, will encourage others to follow Mr. Moss in studying the live 

 insects and in recording their observations, of which we are much in need. 



However, if I venture to give expression to that hope, I must add a note of 

 advice. One of the most salient points which is brought out by pen and brush in the 

 record of Mr. Moss's observations is the diflference which obtains between the earlier 

 and the later stages of a larva, differences which are due to the later stages either 

 having lost primitive characters found in the younger larva, or having acquired new 

 adaptations not present in the earlier instars. The characteristic horn of the Sphingid 

 larva, for instance, is in many instances very long in the first stages and becomes 

 reduced or even entirely atrophied as the larva approaches the pupal stage, Avhile the 

 peculiar eye-markings are generally best developed in the later instars. As the adap- 

 tations may recur in species which belong to a different branch of the family, they are, 

 as a rule, of little assistance in the study of the relationship of the species. On the 

 other hand, the larva as it leaves the egg usually presents characters in the head, 

 bristles, horn, and the structure of the skin which afford valuable evidence as to the 

 affinities of the insect. These first stages, therefore, are of particular interest, and 

 should be so figured that all the detail can be gathered from the drawings. 



As regards the pupae, the artist, as a rule, pays too little attention to the points 

 which distinguish closely allied species or genera. The sheaths in which the mouth- 

 parts, antennae, and legs are encased in the chrysalis furnish frequently good distin- 

 guishing characters, while the structure of the abdomen, and especially the cremaster, 

 are often remarkably different in the pupae, which are much alike in facies. The 

 proboscis-sheath of Protoparce and allied genera, of which Mr. Moss figures several 

 species, is a case in point. The pupse of all the species of this relationship have 

 a projecting proboscis-sheath (a nose) which is, so far as I know, never exactly alike 

 in any two species, the length, curvature, or structure varying more or less from 

 species to species. 



The Sphingidse are a striking illustration of the richness of the fauna of Peru. We 

 know from that country already nearly 120 species — an enormous number, if we 

 consider that there are only 25 species in the whole of Europe. 



