LEPIDOPTBBA. 471 



the palpi against its proboscis) have frequently produced considerable 

 alarm among the people in certain years when it was unusually abundant. 



The caterpillar is yellow, with blue stripes on the side, and the tail re- 

 curved and zig-zag. It feeds on the Potato-vine, Jasmin, &c., and be- 

 comes a chrysalis near the end of August. The pei'fect Insect appears in 

 September. 



Our third division, that of the Sesiades, comprises those in which the an- 

 tennae are always simple, fusiform and elongated, and frequently termina- 

 ted, as in the preceding subgenera, by a little bundle of setse or scales; in 

 which the inferior palpi, slender and naiTow, have three very distinct joints, 

 the last tapering to a point; and where the extremity of the posterior tibiae 

 is armed with very stout spines. The abdomen in most of them is termi- 

 nated by a sort of brush. 



The caterpillars feed on the internal part of the stems or roots of plants, 

 like those of the Hepiali and Cossi, are naked, without a posterior horn, 

 and construct their cocoons in these stems with the debris of the substance 

 on which they have fed. 



Sesta. 



Where the antennae are terminated by a little tuft of scales. The wings 

 are horizontal and marked with transparent spots. The scales of the pos- 

 terior extremity of the abdomen form a brush. S everal of these Insects bear 

 a close resemblance to Wasps or other Hymenoptera, to Diptera, &c. 



The fourth and last section of the Sphinges, that of the ZTGiEnriDEs, 

 is composed of Lepidoptera, in which the antennae, always terminated in a 

 point destitute of a tuft, are sometimes simple in both sexes, fusiform or 

 resembling a ram's horn, &c. The wings are almost tectiform, and exhibit 

 transparent spots in many. There is no terminal brush to the abdomen. 

 The spurs of the posterior extremity are generally small. 



The caterpillars live exposed on various leguminous plants. They are 

 cyUndrical, usually pilose, without a posterior horn, similar to those of dif- 

 ferent species of Bombyx, and form a fusiform or ovoid cocoon of silk, 

 which they attach to the stems of plants. 



ZxGiENA. 



The Zygaenae are not found in the western continent. Their antennae 

 are simple in both sexes, and terminate abruptly in a fuslfonn club, or one 

 resembling a ram's horn; their inferior palpi extend beyond the clypeus, 

 and are pointed at the extremity. 



