290 



The difference between describing the individual and describing 

 the species, and the consequent importance of describing, whenever 

 practicable, from numerous specimens, is well exemplified in the case 

 of these two insects. A writer who had only one or two specimens 

 of each imago before him, might have been easily led to suppose that 

 any one of the six or eight variations which I have enumerated as com- 

 mon to both species was a good <and valid specific character, whereas, 

 as I have shown, they are all individual aberrations. Length of body 

 of H. Antiphola $ .57-.65 inch, 9 .57-.72 inch. Expanse S 1.65- 

 1.97 inch, 9 1.73-2.00 inch. Four 3 , four ? . Those who recollect 

 Shakspeare's Comedy of Errors will understand the allusion conveyed 

 by the trivial name. 



Sphingicampa, n. g. 



Differs from Dryocampa, to which it is otherwise very closely allied, 

 only as foUows : — The larva is sphingiform and always assumes in 

 repose the true sphingide attitude. In the imago the ? antennae, as 

 well as those of 3 , are bipectinate for their basal two-thirds, and 

 minutely serrate for the remaining one-third. The ? pectinations, 

 however, are only tkree-fifths as long as in 5 , and do not merge into 

 the serrations so abruptly as in 5 . As in Dryocampa, the hind wings 

 are much curved forwards on the basal half of their costal edge, so as 

 to project far beyond the front wings in repose.* 



Sphingicampa distigma, n. sp. 3 Body pale ochre-yellow, 

 sides of the abdomen paler ; venter tinged with brown. Legs fuscous- 

 gray, tarsal claws and tips of tarsi beneath, fuscous. Wings, above, 

 ochre-yeUow, sometimes tinged with ochrey-brown. Front wings irreg- 

 ularly and thickly sprinkled with dusky dots ; two-fifths of the dis- 

 tance from the base, along the costa, are placed two roundish white 

 dots, equi-distant from each other, from the central point of the disk, 



* Ceratocampadse was first established as a (listinct and exclusively American 

 family by Dr Harris, but has been somewhat unnaturally united with Saturniadae 

 by succeeding authors, (Harris Inj. Ins., p. 398; Morris Synopsis, pp. xxiv and 

 219.) Dr. Clemens has beautifully shown that it differs from Saturniadfe, not only 

 in the characters laid down by Dr. Harris, but also in having " the subcosto-inferior 

 nervule of the front wing simple and \iot furcate," {Proc. Ent. Soc. Philad., i., p. 

 177.) In other words, in Ceratocampadae the subcostal vein sends off towards its 

 tip three branches or sectors which are all simple ; in Saturniadse the middle one of 

 these three sectors, instead of rising directly from the subcostal vein, rises from 

 the basal sector or branch, thus making that basal sector appear " furcate." (Com- 

 pare Harris Inj. Ins., flgs. 187 and 194.) Sphingicampa, it may be added, follows 

 strictly the Ceratocampade type in this respect, and it agrees with Dryocampa and 

 differs from Ceratocampa in the palpi being- very small and indistinct. The Harris- 

 ian family character, " $ antennse thread-like, and neither feathered nor toothed," 

 must be modified so as to include Sphingicampa, It is remarkable that the typical 

 forms in Ceratocampadae all, so far as known, feed on the oak, and the aberrant 

 forms upon other forest trees. 



