It is in all things better to understand few subjects well than many imperfectly; knowledge may be extensive, but it cannot be sound, if it is at the same time imperfect; and, applying this observation to the present article, it becomes as desirable, where necessary, to illustrate an insect known to Linnæus, as to regard only the accession of new species.
SPHINX Ello.
Generic Character.
- Antennæ prismaticæ, in utroque sexu ad medium leviter crassescentes, externè breviter piloso baciliatæ, mucrone arcuato, producto, sensim terminantes. Palpi breves, obtusi. Lingua elongata, convoluta, distincta, et in pupâ aliquando porrecta. Alæ sub-integræ. Abdomen elongatum, conicum, ano acuto, imberbi.
Typus Genericus Sphinx Convolvuli Linn.
- Antennæ three sided, in both sexes slightly thickened in the middle, externally ciliated with double tufts of short hairs, and ending in a gradually lengthened arcuated hook. Palpi short, obtuse. Tongue long, convolute, distinct, sometimes porrected in the pupa state. Wings nearly entire. Abdomen lengthened, conic; the tip pointed, and not bearded.
Generic Type Sphinx Convolvuli Linn.
Specific Character.
- S. alis subdentatis, cinereis (in maribus lineis fuscis variatis); posticis rufis, margine nigro; abdomine pallido, cingulis atris circumdato.
- Wings slightly dentated, cinereous (in the male variegated with brown lines); posterior rufous, with a black margin; abdomen pale, with black belts.
- Gmelin 5. 2375. 13. Fab. Ent. Sys. 3. 362. no. 21. S. Ello. Drury, vol. i. p. 59. pl. 27. fig. 3. (male.) Cramer, pl. 301. D.
The two insects figured were received from Jamaica by my friend Dr. Leach, and there can be no doubt they are the sexes of one species. The upper is a male, and agrees with Drury's figure and description; the lower insect is a female, of which no representation has been published: as for Cramer's figure, if intended for the former, it is really so bad that it can hardly be quoted as an authority, and it appears to have misled Fabricius, in thinking that the female insect had a brown stripe on the anterior wings, whereas that character is more applicable to the male.
The insects I propose retaining under this genus are such as have the body lengthened, pointed, and not bearded at the tip; the antennæ but slightly thickened in the middle, and the terminating hook gradual, arched, and not very acute: these comprehend the first section of Latreille's genus, Sphinx, and are by him again divided into two groups, the one having the wings entire, the other angulated.