274 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



are concerned, possibly rather more generalised than the Sphingids 

 (sens, restr.), as represented by Sphinx ligustri, but the larva of 

 Hyloicus is exceedingly specialised to its foodplant and appears, 

 in the more typical species (pinastri), to have entirely lost all traces 

 of the characteristic oblique stripes, and to have developed an 

 entirely new ornamentation to respond to the peculiar environment 

 engendered by the pine-trees on which the larvae of many of the 

 species live. The pupa of the genus Hyloicus, as represented by 

 pinastri, has a tongue-horn, developed to about the extent of that in 

 Sphinx (ligustri) ; this becomes a marked feature in Agrius (con- 

 volvuli), and assumes a projecting curved form in the higher Phlegeth- 

 ontiids and Cocytiids (Amphonygids). Although, in this particular, 

 Hyloicus would appear to be a low form, one cannot say that it 

 is higher or lower than Sphinx, yet one is inclined to place 

 the latter lower than Agnus, chiefly, perhaps, on the ground that,, 

 where one has nothing better to go on, the development of the 

 maxillae appears to be some measure of the advance made. Sphinx is 

 nearer Ceratomia, a low form, inasmuch as the pupa of the latter has a 

 ventral labrum and no tongue-horn ; Hyloicus is not far from the 

 same level as Sphinx, but its larval specialisation makes it different 

 but not necessarily higher or lower, although its line of specialisation 

 runs away from what we have learned to consider the normal 

 form of Sphingid {sens, restr.) larva. The Hyloicid larvae that feed 

 on pine have, as we have already said, become so specialised in 

 their markings and coloration to agree with their environment 

 that they have lost the characteristic oblique stripes that the 

 Sphingid {sens, restr.), in common with the Amorphid, larvae possess, 

 and look very unlike, in the larval stage, the species to which the 

 pupal and imaginal structures show them to be most closely allied. 

 Of the Hyloicid larvae, Weismann notes that coniferarum, a North 

 American species living on Pinus palustris and figured by Abbot and 

 Smith, has the colour and markings very similar to those of H. pinastri, 

 whilst, on the other hand, the larva of Dilophonota (Erinnyis) ello, 

 which, by-the-bye, is not a Hyloicid but a Pseudosphingid. he says, 

 is described by Clemens as dark brown with a white dorsal line 

 and irregular white spots on the sides, and lives on a species 

 of Psidium or Guava. Kirby says (Handbook, &c, iv., p. 49) that 

 there are several American genera allied to Hyloicus, including 

 species measuring two or three inches across the wings, in which 

 the hindwings are red or yellow, with black or brown borders, 

 and instances Dilophonota (ello, oenotrus, melancholic a), Phryxus* 

 (caicus), Anceryx (alope, fasciata, edwardsii) (see Kirby, Cat., pp. 

 696-699), all of which are Erinnyids and have no real Hyloicid 

 relationship. 



Genus : Hyloicus, Hiibner. 



Synonymy.— Genus : Hyloicus, Hb., " Verz.," p. 139 (circ. 1822); Stephs., 

 " Illus. Haust.," iv., app. p. 5 (1835); "List Br. An. Br. AIus.," p. 27 (1850); 

 Grote, "Proc. Ent. Soc. Phil.," v., p. 190 (1865); Bull., "Trans. Zool. Soc. Loud.," 

 ix., pt. 10, p. 616 (1876); Kirby, "Cat.,"' p. C93 (1892); "Handbook," &c, 

 iv., p. 49 (1897); Leech, "Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond.," p. 287 (1898); Staud., 

 "Cat.," ed. 3, p. 101 (1901). Sphinx, Linn., " Sys. Nat.," xth ed., p. 492 

 (1758); xiith ed., p. 802 (1767); "Faun. Suec./' 2nd ed., p. 288 (1761); 



* Erroneously applied here by Kirby ; livornica is the type oiPhryx us, see antca, p. 

 146. For this genus (with caicus as the type) Jordan has proposed the name Giammodia, 



