This lovely hawkmoth, which is accounted quite rare in localities, has been found very commonly at certain times in western Pennsylvania. Its larva feeds upon the wild hydrangea, which grows abundantly in deep wooded glens, along the margin of brooks. The insect ranges from New England to the mountains of the Carolinas and westward into the eastern border of the Mississippi Valley. Genus SPHECODINA Blanchard The head is broad. The proboscis is nearly as long as the body. The antennæ are fusiform, with a recurved hook at the tip. The body is broad, flattened beneath. The abdomen has a pointed anal tuft, and the segments are adorned laterally with prominent truncated tufts of coarse hairs. The wings in their outline closely resemble those of the genus Amphion. Only one species of the genus is known. (1) Sphecodina abbotti Swainson, Plate II, Fig. 19, 3. (Abbot's Sphinx.) This beautiful hawkmoth is found throughout the Eastern States and southern Canada and ranges westward as far as lowa (After Riley.) and Kansas. The larva feeds on the Vitacea and is not uncommon on Ampelopsis. The caterpillar is not provided with an anal horn, but has instead an eye-like tubercle, or boss, at the anal extremity. It has the habit, when disturbed, of throwing its head violently from side to side, a movement found in other sphingid larvæ, and also in some of the Ceratocampida. |