SPHINX. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Antennae thicker in the middle than at the extremities. 
Wings deflected, the outer margins declining towards the 
side. 
Flight, slow and heavy. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
Sphinx Atropos. . . S. alis posterioribus luteis, fasciis fuscis; 
abdomine luteo, cingulis nigris. Linn. 
Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 2378. 
The lower wings yellow, marked with 
brown bands abdomen yellow, with 
rings of black. 
Death’s Head Sphinx. Reaum. Ins. 1 . pi. 14. 2. pi. 24. 
Schceff. Icon. pi. gg. f. ], 2. Cram. 
Pap. 7. pi. 78. f. A. Shaw Gen. 
Zool. 6. p. 217- ph 74. 
The remarkable resemblance of a death’s head upon 
the thorax of this insect, together with the sharp 
sound, like the squeaking of a mouse, which it 
emits when either disturbed or irritated, has been 
the cause of much uneasiness to those who are in- 
clined to be superstitious; and the poor animal from 
these natural circumstances has been generally 
