Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Exotic Moths.djvu/175

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SATURNIA CYNTHIA.
141

as well as the rest of the head, are brown. The spiral tongue appears to be wanting; the antennæ are slightly bipectinated, being gradually more slender from about one-third of the distance from the base to the apex. The legs are short.

This insect seems allied to Saturnia alenda, Drury, vol. ii. pl. 19, and S. phœdura, Drury, vol. ii. pl. 24 and 25, both of which are from Sierra Leone, but differing from both in the form of the wings.

In the possession of palpi, S. Iris agrees with Aglaia rather than Saturnia, but that is evidently a character of slight importance; the giant Atlas moth of China has similarly developed palpi, and yet nothing would be more absurd than to place these three species in one modern genus.



SATURNIA[1] CYNTHIA.

PLATE XIV. Fig. 1.

Phal. (Attacus) Cynthia, Drury's Exot. Ins., ii. pl. 6. fig. 2; Oliv. Ency. Meth.

The expansion of the wings is about five inches: head and antennæ greyish-brown, the latter strongly pectinated; thorax and abdomen lighter grey; wings

  1. This and the following species might perhaps be included in Hyalophora, but as they deviate somewhat from the type of that genus, the old name has, in the mean time, been permitted to remain.