Plate XXV. fig. 2.
ORDER: Lepidoptera. SECTION: Crepuscularia. FAMILY: Sphingidæ, _Leach_.
GENUS. SMERINTHUS, _Latr._ Laothoë, _Fabr._ (Syst. Gloss.) Sphinx,
_Linn._
SMERINTHUS JAMAICENSIS. Alis anticis fusco, griseo, olivaceoque variis,
posticis roseis ocello coeruleo nigro marginato. (Expans. Alar. 2 unc. 5
lin.)
SYN. Sphinx ocellatus Jamaicensis, _Drury_, _App. vol._ 2.
Sphinx ocellatus, _Fabr. Ent. Syst._ III. 1. 355. _No._ 1. _Gmel. Linn.
Syst. N._ 2371. 1.
HABITAT: Jamaica (_Drury_). "In Europæ Americæ Spiræâ, Salice, Pomonâ."
_Fabr._
_Upper Side._ Antennæ pectinated and brown. Head and thorax soft
dun-coloured, but dark brown above. Abdomen dun. Anterior wings delicate
fine greyish, light brown next the shoulders and tips; the remaining
parts being clouded with dark olive brown colours. Posterior wings red in
the middle, but along the external edges dun-coloured; having a large
black spot placed near the abdominal corners, the middle of which is
blue, and imperfectly resembling an eye. All the wings are angulated.
_Under Side._ Breast and abdomen dun. Anterior wings red in the middle;
but along the anterior edges ash-coloured, which runs to the tips where
it forms a crescent, the inner part being dark olive brown; the external
edges are olive brown, but lighter than the crescent. Posterior wings
clouded with olive brown and ash-colour; having a double ash-coloured bar
crossing them, which rises at the anterior edges of the anterior wings,
and, running circularly, ends at the abdominal edges of the posterior.
{48}Fabricius cites the present figure amongst his synonyms of the common
English Eyed-hawk moth (Smerinthus ocellatus), notwithstanding its very
different habitat. It is evident, however, from the diversity in the
outline of the wings of this insect and other English species, and from the
circumstance of several species very closely allied to this being found in
America (two of which are figured by Abbot and Smith in "the Insects of
Georgia," pl. 25. and 26.), that Fabricius overlooked the minute characters
which distinguish these species, and confounded them under the name of
Ocellatus. Drury's insect very nearly approaches Sphinx Myops of Smith, but
differs in the markings, especially of the posterior edge of the wings, and
the colour of the posterior pair.
Sir J. E. Smith notices the very slight difference which exists between the
caterpillars of nearly allied species of Sphingidæ, compared with the
diversity in the larvæ of the genus Papilio of Linnæus.