Fig. 128.—Wing of May-fly (Haplophlebium Barnesii, Scudder). From the Coal-formation.
Fig. 129.—A Jurassic Sphinx-moth (Sphinx Snelleri, Weyenburgh).
Fig. 130.—An Eocene Butterfly (Prodryas persephone, Scudder). From Colorado.
The suctorial insects make their first certain appearance in the Jurassic; and the magnificent Sphinx Moth in [Fig. 129] is an example of the magnitude and perfection to which that tribe attained in the age of the Solenhofen slate; though Weyenburgh, who describes it, fancies that he sees evidence that it may, unlike any modern moths, have been provided with a sting. The most perfect and beautiful fossil butterfly known to me is that represented in [Fig. 130], from a photograph kindly given to me by Mr. Scudder. It is from the Tertiary rocks of Western America, and is laid out in stone as neatly as if prepared by an entomologist, while its preservation is so perfect that even the microscopic scales on the wings can be made out. It belongs to one of the highest types of modern butterflies, that to which the Vanessæ belong, but with some points of structure pointing to the lower group of the “Skippers” (Hesperiadæ). Scudder remarks that while the fore-wings resemble those of the former group, the hind-wings look more like those of the latter; and this seems to be a common character of two or three others of the few fossil species known, none of which are older than the Tertiary.