
LEPIDOPTERA. 

SPHIPA ? SSE LO. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER 
AND 
SYNONYMS. 
Wings oblong, entire black, two bars of white on the anterior wings, and a yellow fpace on the 
pofterior pair. 
Papitio THatxo: alis oblongis integerrimis nigris: anticis fafciis duabus, pofticis unica flavis. Linz, 
Syft. Nat. 2. 756. 62. 
Papilio Thallo: Fab. Ent. Syft. 3. p. 1. 173. 537. 
Sphinx pectinicornis: Linz. Sy. Nat. 2. 807. 44? 
Fab. Ent. Syft. 3. p. 1. 399. 44? 

It is altogether perplexing, and myfterious to us, that Fabricius, throughout all his works, and even in 
his laft enlarged and correéted fyftematic arrangement, has given a Papilio Thallo in the He/iconii divifion 
of that genus, when it is clear no fuch Papilio has exiftence. Linnzeus has, undoubtedly, fo named an in- 
fe figured ina plate of Edwards's birds, tab. 226, with a reference to that work ; yet it is certain the infect 
there figured is not a butterfly, but a lepidopterous Infe@, to which antennz of dubious ftruGture have 
been added, to perfect its appearance’. No later author has figured the fame fpecies; and {pecimens of it 
being extremely fcarce, it is probable Fabricius has been unable to dete&t the error. In admitting this, 
however, we mutt neceflarily notice the fynonyms of Sphinx pectinicornis, where he alfo quotes the fame figure 
in the works of Edwards. Thus we find, throughout all the editions of the Fabrician Syftem, a Papilio 
Thallo and Sphinx pectinicornis formed of the folitary figure of one infect. Cramer has finally increafed the 
ambiguity of its genera, by making an infect of clofe affinity, perhaps the fame f{pecies, a Phalzena. 
Vide P. Tiberina. 
f Coincident obfervations on perfeét fpecimens of feveral infe&ts, nearly allied to this fpecies, tend to convince us, that the 
artift had only a mutilated fpecimen to copy from. Indeed, though the antenne in his figure are terminated in a kind of capi- 
tulum, like that of the butterflies, the filaments are fomewhat jagged, as if intended to appear flightly peétinated. Cramer notices 
the very clofe affinity between his infect, P. Tiberina, and that in Edwards’s work; which, he obferves, differs neither in form 
nor colour, but only in having clubbed antennz: thofe parts of his infect being peétinated or feathered. — ‘* Mr. Edwards a 
repréfenté un Papillon, qui ne differe de celui-ci, ni pour la coleur, ni pour la deffein, mais qui a des antennes 4 boutons. Celui 
que nous donnons ici eft gravé d’apres une Phaléne qui a des antennes plumacées,” &c. Cram.C.D. Pl. 32. 
Edwards calls this infeét the little black and white Butchers fly, becaufe it is figured on a plate with the black and white 
Butcher bird. 







