TAB. XXXVIII.
S P H INX TERSA.
B L A C K A N D Y E L L Ö W -U N D E R W IN G H AW K -M O T H .
S P E R M A C O C E H Y S S O F IF O L IA .
I-IYSSOF-LEAVED SPERMACOCE.
S . alls integris fufcis longitudinaliter flriatisi- pofticis nigris fafci-A maculari luteo-albL
Sphinx Terfa. Linn. Man/. 2.533. Fabr.Entom. emend. Pi 4 . 378. Drury's Inf. ‘V. I. t. 28. f . 3. Cranl.
Pap. t. 397-Cv
I ts food is the W ild Thyme. One o f thefe caterpillars Ipun itfe lf up on th e 31 ft
o f July, and came out in its perfect ftate th e 15th o f A uguft; anothe r fpun th e
1 l th o f September, and came out the p t h o f M ay. W h e n difturbed the caterpillar
contra ils its head, like thofe o f th e Sphinx Crantor and Azalece. Some o f thefe
caterpillars are brown. T h e fly is n o t v ery common, b u t may be fometimes ob-
ferved fucking th e gourd blofioms in autumn.
We have found it neceflary to give a new fpecific character to this moth, both the Lin*
njean and Fabrician ones being incorreCt. Sometimes there is a very minute black dot on the
fore wings, which Mr. Abbot has not obferved in the fpecimen he has drawn. The range of
yellowifh fpots on the hind wings vary much in fize, as well as colour, being often almoft
white. All the wings refemble each other on the under fide, being brown at th e bafe, rufty
towards the margin, with a row of blackifti dots.
The plant here delineated appears to be a new fpecies of Sfermacoce, which is preferved/
without a name, in the Linnsean Herbarium. Mr. Abbot calls it wild thyme, probably from
its habit, for it has no other affinity to any plant of the thyme kind. The root is ftrong and
woody, the ftem fhrubby, and fomewhat diffufe. It may be characterized as follows:
Spermacoce hyfiopifolia, foliis lineari-lanceofotis revolutis margine fcabris, verticillis ^aucifloris.