SPHINX HYLÆUS. Alis anticis fuscis margine interno apiceque variegatis;
posticis nigris maculâ basali fasciâque mediâ transversâ cinereis.
(Expans. Alar. 2 unc. 6 lin.)
SYN. Sphinx Hylæus, _Drury_, _App. vol._ 2. _Cramer Ins. pl._ 107. _fig._
C? _Fabr. Ent. Syst._ III. 1. 373. _No._ 53. _Gmel. Linn. S. N._ 2383.
81.
Sphinx Prini, _Abbott & Smith Ins. Georg. tab._ 35.
HABITAT: New York.
_Upper Side._ Antennæ white within, brown without. Head, thorax, and
abdomen rusty grey brown; the latter having on the sides of each ring a
narrow white streak, and two small white spots on the upper part.
Anterior wings rusty grey brown; having several dappled white marks
dispersed on different parts, particularly at the shoulders and external
edges; a narrow black line rises near the lower corners, running from
thence to the anterior edges, and ending near the tips; cilia brown,
spotted with white. Posterior wings black; cilia white, having some
whitish marks thereon, particularly near the abdominal corners.
_Under Side._ Breast and abdomen white. Legs brown. Wings brown; having
two faint indented lines crossing them, near the tips and lower corners.
Posterior wings brown, with some faint undulated dark lines crossing them
from the anterior edges to the abdominal corners.
The caterpillar of this insect, observed by Abbot, feeds upon the evergreen
winter-berry, or gall-berry (Prinos glaber, Linn.), whence Sir J. E. Smith
altered the name of the species from Hylæus to Prini. It is of a pale green
colour, with six lateral oblique pink lines, the last of which extends to
the base of the nearly straight tail, which is of the same colour; the
chrysalis is chesnut, without any porrected tongue-case. One of these
caterpillars, observed by Abbot, went into the ground on the 17th of May,
and appeared as a moth on the 19th of June; whilst another buried itself on
the 25th of August, and remained in the earth until the 26th of April. The
caterpillar is subject to the attacks of a small Ichneumon, the larvæ of
which, when full grown, eat their way out of its body and spin themselves
up on the outside. The moth is occasionally seen sucking the blossoms of
gourds in the twilight, but is not common.
{50}PLATE XXVII.
[Illustration]