LEPIDOPTERA. 
—— 
SPHINX NECHUS. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
Wings entire: anterior pair greenifh, with teftaceous marks. Pofterior pair black; a band of yellow {pots 
acrofs the wings, and a fingle {pot near the bafe. 
Seuinx Necuus: alis integris: anticis viridibus; ftriga teftacea, pofticis nigris: maculis bafeos fafciaque 
flavis. Fab. Ent. Syft. 3. p. 1. 377. 62. 


The number of Chinefe fpecies of this genus, already defcribed, is very limited: our prefent infect is 
the largeft of them; but, as this is inferior in fize to feveral kinds found in Europe, we conceive there 
muft remain many larger fpecies of the genus unknown to collectors of foreign infects, and yet very com- 
mon in China. In the latter part of Sir G. Staunton’s work, that author mentions the larva of a Sphinx 
Moth which furnifh an article for the table of the Chinefe. We regret that the indefinite expreffion can- 
not affift us to determine the fpecies, and fcarcely the genus, of the infect alluded to *. 
The {pecimen figured in the annexed plate, is in the collection of Mr. Francillon, who received it from 
China. <A {mall variety of the fame fpecies is found in North America, and figured by Cramer. Sphinx 
Batus and Sphinx Gnoma are nearly allied to this infect, particularly the former; both are found in dif- 
ferent parts of the Eaft Indies. 
e European naturalifts are entirely ignorant of the Chinefe infeéts in the ftate of larva and pupa, if we except a few fpecies 
of the Cimices, Cicada, and fome altogether uninterefting infeéts, that have been accidentally brought among others from that 
country. Hence it muft remain undetermined whether they correfpond in form with thofe of other parts of the world. It is, 
however, highly probable, from their great affinity to thofe, in the perfeét ftate, that in the ftate of larva they may aifo agree. 
The extenfive colleGtion of the larva of fphinges made by Mr. Abbot in North America affords no fingularly conftruéted animal 
diftin& from thofe found in Europe; they vary indeed in their colours, but preferve uniformly the charaéters found on the fame 
genus in other countries. We noticed among the drawings of the late Mr. Bradfhaw the figure of a Chinefe {phinx, apparently 
S. Hylas, together with a larva fimilar to that of the Sphinx Stellatarum: it was green, and, like all the known larva of the genus, 
(except the Adjcite divifion) was perfeétly free from hairs: it was alfo furnifhed with a horn at the pofterior part of the body. 
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