COLLECTION OF ARTICULATED ANIMALS. 4$7 



base to the tip, are called moths. The antennae 

 of the sphinxes are in the form of a spindle ; 

 Mi Latreille has named them crepuscularia. The 

 number of species which compose this order is 

 more than eight thousand. The three genera of 

 Linnaeus have been considered as so many fami- 

 lies, which have been subdivided into genera. 

 The first cases contain the species of the genus 

 sphinx of Linnaeus, from which the sesia and 

 zygoma have been detached. The sesice have 

 glazed wings, and their body is terminated by a 

 brush of hair or scales; their caterpillars inhabit 

 the interior of plants. That of the s. apiformis 

 (n° i) feeds on the substance of the bark of the 

 poplar-tree. We frequently see the s. stella la- 

 ram (n° i), particularly in the autumn, hovering 

 around flowers, agitating its wings, passing with 

 rapidity from one to another, and dipping its 

 long trunk in their corolla. The s. tilice (n os ly 

 and 1 8) is more commonly found on the trunk 

 of the elm ; on the poplar we find the species 

 (n° 19) which takes its name from that tree. 



A very beautiful caterpillar, that of the s. eu- 

 phorbia?, Lin. (n os 25 and 26), lives on the spurge. 

 N° 54 is that of the sphinx, found upon the com- 

 mon privet (s. ligustri) ; the death-head sphinx 

 (s. atropoSy Lin.,) owes its name to the disposi- 

 tion of the spots on its thorax. Among the 



