SPHINGIDAE. Nov., - Hindawi Publishing Corporation...Among the rarest of our sphingidae, of which I...

PS YGHE. 367been obtained sufficiently perfect to decidethe question. Dr. Riley, however, informsme that the study of a specimen bred, in1873, from the blossom of the buckeye,which specimen he finds specifically identi-cal with mine, renders it certain that theinsect, is not Proteoteras aesculanum.

Dr. Riley has very kindly allowed me to

three days and lives in a rolled-up leaf.5. P. aesculanum bores the stem to a

depth of from 13 to 50 ram. The insecthere alluded to seldom or never exceeds13 ram. in its boring.

I may add here a few words from a re-cent letter from Dr. Riley. He writes

You are safe in changing the determi-see his notes on, and figures of 10. aescu- nation of your species, for it certainly islanum, which show several points in which not Sericoris instrutana, Clem. You are

saf in saying the species is close to P. aes-that species markedly differs from the spe- culana but nevertheless different, not onlycies which I reared. These points are as in structure and in some of’ the detailsfbllows :-- of its markings but more particularly in

1. The larva here described bores the having shorter and more acuminate front-

leaf-stalk of the buckeye and only oncehave I found a specimen in the terminaltwig. P. aesculanum bores the terminaltwig as well as the leaf-stalk.

2. P. aesculanum bores the terminaltwigs of maple (Acer dasycarpum). I havenever seen a specimen of the insect here des-

wings. But it is impossible to characterizeit either generically or specifically until youget absolutely perfect specimens."

In conclusion I must express my indebt-edness to Prof. Fernald and Dr. Riley forthe trouble they have taken and the helpthey have given me. It is only right, also,to add, as an excuse for the imperfect state

cribed on a maple nor have I seen a maple of this paper, that the doubt, concerningtwig or leaf showing indications of its pres- the identity of the insect did not arise unlilence. the greater part of the paper was in type.

3. P. aesculanum often forms a swell This doubt cannot be removed until theing or pseudogall on the stem. The species brood for 1883 is obtained. In the mean-here alluded to never forms a gall. while Prof. Fernald has referred the insect,

4. P. aesculanum lives in the gall ap- provisionally, to the genus Steganoptycha,patently through almost its whole larval Stephens (1834), under the name S. clay-stage. Theinseetheredeseribed, however, poleana.quits the leaf-stalk at the end of two or

NOTES ON SPHINGIDAE.BY LAFAYETTE WASHINGTON GOODELL, AMHERST, MASS.

Deileph;la l’ineata is the most common November. I have seen the half-grownof all the sphingidae here. I have never larvae crawling about on the ground asfound the larvae on anything but purslane, late as 10 Nov., in search of their food-Portulaca oleracea, one of the worst of our plant which had been destroyed by earlyweeds, and on the cultivated species, P. frosts. It is not uncommon to see thegrandiflora and on these they are found, moths on wing in midday, and often in thein all stages of growth, from June to full sunshine. The moths are particularly

368 PYHE.fond of the petunia and verbena, and so Our most common Smerinthus is S. ex-abundant are they this month (Sept.) that caecatus, occuring in July and August.hundreds of them can be seen in an even- A female taken 15 July and confined in aing hovering over fields of these flowers, box deposited 331 eggs from 15 to 20 July,The moths frown the winter chrysalids firstappear early in June, and those from thefirst brood of larvae early in August.

Scarcely less abundant than D. lineatais Dolba hylaeus which occurs from Juneto September. Next in abundance comesSphinx gordus, from May to September.

about 30 being laid each evening at duskand the same number in the morning.This was done quite regularly, no eggsbeing laid at any other time. The eggs arecylindrical, flattened, 2.5 ram. in diameter,and grass-green in color. The larvae be-gan to appear 22 July and all were hatched

S./calm;ae is common from the first part by 28 July. The young larvae measureof June to August, and S. drupiferarum .7 to 5 mm. in length, and are yellowishthrough June. S. eremitus is common green with a darker dorsal line. Headfrom the middle of June to the middle of pale green, and twice as wido as the body.August. Darapsa choerilus is commonfrom the middle of June to the middle ofJuly. Philampelus achemon and P. satel-litia are rather common from the latterpart of June to August. Macrosila guin-quemaculata is very common from Juneto September, but M. carols:ha is rtherrare. The same remark will apply toSphinx chersis. Thelarvae of Ceratomiaamyntor feed on the elm (Ulmus) and onthe white birch (Betula alba), but are notcommon.

Caudal horn long, dull red.Among the rarest of our sphingidae,

of which I have taken but one or twospecimens each in nine years of collecting,are Smerinthus modestus (22 June and 20July), S. ge.minatus (3 Aug.), Sphinxluscitiosa (20 June), Thyreus abboti (inMay), Deilephila chamaener;i (2 June),Choerocampa tersa (15 July), Darapsaversicolor (8 July), Ellema harrisii (2June).

Amherst, 13 Sept. 1882.

MUMMY OF A WASP.--In Maspero and specimen of a mummy of a vasp.Brugsch’s work La trouvaille de Deir-el- De Rhon(;, in his ’ Rdsum5 chronolog-:Bahari" (1881) is given, according to a ique de l’histoire d’Egypte," places thenote presented by M. Van Segvelt in the accession of Thoutmes I, the successorJuly meeting of the Socidtd entomologique of Amenophis I to the throne in 1668 B.de Belgiqu% a notice of a wasp found C. This insect therefore died 3550 yearspreserved in the coffin of Amenophis I, ago, and is probably the only insectthe illustrious king of Egypt. The wasp, of which the date of death was of suchattracted probably by the flowers with remote antiquity and is so certainly recor-which the mummy of the king was wrapped ded. The name of the species is notprevious to interment, had entered the col- given.fin and thus furnished us probably the only

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