TAB. XXX.
S P H I N X L U G U B R I S .
F A N -T A IL E D H A W K -M O T H .
V IT IS QUINQUEFOLIA. JUSSI GEN. 1671-.
H ED E R A QUINQUEFOLIA.. LINN..
V I R G IN I A N CR E E P E R.
S . alis angulatis ferrugineo-fufcis pundto fubocellari.
Sphinx lugubris. Linn. Mant. 2. 537. Drury's Jnf. V. X. t. 28. f . 2.
T a k e n feeding on the Virginian Creeper. I t w e n t into th e ground Auguft 18, and
th e fly-came o u t September 1 lth . T h e tail o f the male fpreads like a fan.
This is a very rare fpecies. One was caught in the evening on a gourd bloflom.
I t flew exceedingly fwift, making a noife like a humble-bee.
Linnaeus defcribes the fpot on the fore wings as black, and it is fo in his fpecimen, which
is a male, as well as in Mr. Drury’s figure, which feems to be taken from a female. As Mr.
Abbot’s drawing reprefents the fpot of a paler hue in the female, we have ventured to change
the Linnaean definition from funtto atro to fubocellari.
As to the plant on which this moth feeds, we are confident from accurate examination
that M. de Juflieu has properly removed it from Hedera to Vitis, both on account o f its habit
and fructification. Its berries, reprefented on the annexed plate, are never produced in-
England, though the plant itfelf thrives with us in any fituation, even in the thickeft fmoke
of London.