A.\0 TIIKIR TRANSFORMATIONS. 



FAMILY I. 

 SPHINGID.E. 



This family (with which 1 unite the Sesiida! * of Jlr. Stephens) comprises the most robust and powerful 

 insects in the order, being generally distinguished by their large size, and the strength and pecidiarity of their 

 hawk-like flight, wlicnce their English name Ilawk-moths. The sjiiral tongue, orniaxlllffi, is often extremel}- long, 

 exceeding the whole body in length in some species ; the antcnnre are jnismatic, and terminated by a minute 

 feather or thread ; the labial palpi are broad and compressed, and closely covered with scales, the terminal joint 

 being generally almost obsolete ; the maxillary palpi arc minute and three-jointed ; the body long, and acute 

 behind ; the wings, especially the hinder pair, small ; the caterpillars naked, cylindrical, and sixtecn-footed, and 

 generally furnished with a dorsal horn near the extremity of the body ; they are also almost invariably 

 ornamented with pale oblique stripes upon the sides of tlie bod}-. They generally descend into the earth to 

 become pupae, which are naked, conical, and often furnished with a detaelied horn, containing the spiral tongue, 

 extending beneath the breast ; this is, however, wanting in those typical species which have the spiral tongue 

 short. The wings are retained in their situation during flight by the spring and socket apparatus. Various 

 modifications occur in the ditferent members of this family, which it will be unnecessary here to mention, as they 

 will be noticed in the account of the different genera. The interesting connexion which exists between the 

 variation in the length of the spiral tongue and the rapidity of iliglit merits attention, depending as it docs on the 

 habit of the insects of extracting the nectareous juices of tube-be:uing flowers by means of their elongated 

 proboscis. 



The caterpillars of the typical species arc remarkable for the attitude which they ordinarily assume, whence 

 they have obtained the name of .Sphinx, from their supposed resemblance to the figures of that fabulous creature ; 

 others are distinguished for the faculty which they possess of elongating and contracting tlie tlirce anterior 

 segments of the body, giving them somewhat the appearance of the proboscis of an elephant, whence they have 

 obtained the name of Elephant-sphinxes. These and some other of the caterpillars undergo their transformations 

 in a leaf cocoon on the surface of the ground ; the majority, however, descend to a considerable distance into the 

 earth, where they form an oval cell. 



On casting our eyes over a collection of these insects, it is impossible not to be convinced that the pre-eminent 

 characteristics of the group are to be found in the povi-erful flight and great elongation of the spiral proboscis; 

 indeed the vulgar name of hawk-moths amply proves that the common observation of their habits has fixed upon 

 their most prominent character. Now this jieculiarity does not exist in the death's-head moth, which, although 

 the giant of our British species, cannot on that account alone be regarded as " at the head of this tribe." It is 

 true that Jlr. Swainson (in order to support his fanciful theory, that one of the primary divisions of all groups is 

 " a type of evil,") has found in this insect a fit object for such pre-eminence, as it carries upon its thorax the 



* Mr. Stepliens estalilisbcd tliis family on account of the tufted abdomen, diurnal flight, and location of tlie cocoon on tlie surface of the 

 ground ; but such characters are too trivial to warrant the establishment of families thereon. Mr. Swainson's family Orthida;, composed ol the 

 elephant hawk-moths, Sesije, JEgeria;, &c., is as artificial a group as could well be devised. 



