SPHINX CINGULATA. Alis anticis cinereo atroque undatis, puncto parvo
discoidali; posticis nigro fasciatis, basi sanguineis, abdominis fasciis
alternis interruptis sanguineis et atris. (Expans. Alar. 4 unc. 6 lin.)
SYN. Sphinx Cingulata, _Fabr. Ent. Syst._ III. 1. 395. _No._ 56.
Sphinx Convolvuli var. _Drury_, _Append. vol._ 2. (Exclus. _Syn. Gmel.
Linn. S. N._ 2376. _No._ 6.) _Abbot and Smith Ins. Georg._ 1. _tab._ 32.
HABITAT: St. Christopher's.
_Upper Side._ Antennæ white on one side, and brown on the other. Thorax
dark brown, with several curved lines running across it from one shoulder
to the other. The abdomen, on the upper part is beautifully encircled
with five rings of rose colour, and six of black, extending to its sides,
having on the top of it a line of a rusty brown, which runs from the base
to the extremity. Anterior wings brown chesnut, marked with lighter and
darker clouds, some of which are almost black; having a lighter spot near
the middle, and not far from the anterior margin. Posterior wings at the
base black, but along the external edges of a grey brown, the middle
being occupied by three bars of red, ash, and faint rose colours,
separated by three black waved lines crossing them from the anterior to
the interior. Cilia brown spotted with white.
_Under Side._ Breast and abdomen ash-coloured; along the latter are five
dark spots (the middle ones the largest) placed at the bottom of the five
segments near the breast. Anterior wings dark hazel, immaculate.
Posterior wings of the same colour along the anterior and external
margins; but next the shoulders and inner edges are of a grey ash colour;
a dark coloured line begins near the anal angle, {50}where it is almost
black, and runs across the wing, ending at the middle of the anterior
edge; from whence to the middle it resembles a row of arches joined
together.
The caterpillar of this insect, according to Abbot and Smith, is brown,
with four dorsal dark flesh-coloured lines, and a series of short lateral
oblique cream-coloured marks united together over the legs. It feeds upon
the sweet potatoe plant (Convolvulus Batatas, Linn.), and is sometimes
frequent though the moth is rare. The chrysalis is chesnut, with a long
curved tongue case, the extremity of which is recurved. It is often dug up
with the potatoes. In Virginia one of these insects buried itself October
3rd, and came forth in the perfect state on the 30th of May; whilst one
observed in Georgia went into the ground on the 20th of August, and came
out the 11th of September.
This species was considered by Drury and Smith as a climatal variety of the
Europæan Sphinx Convolvuli. Fabricius, however, considered it distinct, and
designated it by the specific name adopted above.