24 SPHTNGIDJE. 



or absent. The fore and hind wings are very variable in 

 shape. 



Abdomen (fig. 7 D, E). — Lepidoptera have ten segments. 

 The ninth and tenth of the male and the eighth to tenth 

 of the female are modified. The sphingid abdomen possesses 

 an armature of spines. The spines stand at the edges of the 

 segments, and are found on segments 2 to 8 in the male and 

 2 to 7 in the female. The most frequent arrangement consists 

 of several rows of elongate, flattened spines, those of the 

 proximal row being the shortest and those of the last row 

 the longest. There is a second type of spine in which they 

 are all flat, black and glossy, being very strongly chitinized. 

 This kind of spination makes the abdomen smooth and 

 slippery. In the third type, which is connected by inter- 

 gradations with the first, there is only one series of spines, 

 which stand often well apart and are long, conical and very 

 strong. 



The first abdominal segment (fig. 6 A) consists of a tergite 

 (at) and a more or less triangular lateral plate, the parapleurum 

 (pp) ; it bears no trace of real spines. The first abdominal 

 stigma (sti) lies free in the membrane in front of the para- 

 pleurum. The second to sixth tergites are essentially of the 

 same structure, the spines of the posterior ones becoming 

 stronger. The seventh tergite is longer, with the sides more 

 strongly converging anad in most species. The eighth tergite 

 (fig. 7 F) is small and partly (£) or completely ($) concealed 

 by the seventh. The parapleura of segments 2 to 8 are mem- 

 branaceous and bear the stigmata. The second stigma, how- 

 ever, is situated upon the tergite, and the third one half upon 

 the tergite and half upon the parapleurum. 



The sternites of the first and last segments undergo some- 

 times remarkable modifications. The second (= basal) ster- 

 nite of Sphingid^: touches the merum of the hind coxa, 

 with which it is connected by a short membrane. In by far 

 the larger number of species it is slanting, transversely 

 impressed in front, the impression ending at each side in a 

 small but often deep groove, and is mesially carinate in front, 

 the carina fitting in between the coxae. 



The sternite of the seventh segment appears in the female 

 sex of SphingidtE in two principal types. The ordinary 

 type is shown on fig. 7 B. Here the apical portion of the 

 sternite is more or less broadly membranaceous ; the stronger 

 chitinized plate is short, broadbf rounded, or sometimes 

 elongate -trapeziform, with the apex slightly sinuate. It does 

 not bear any spines. 



The second type is shown in figs. 7 D, E. The membrane 

 connecting the sternite (vn. v) with the tergite (vn. t) is very 

 small ; the sternite is not membranaceous apically, the 



