Achernar

( Astron.) A large star in the southern extremity of the constellation Eridamus. Acheron. [Gr. achos , grief.] ( Myth .) The river of sorrow which flowed round the infernal realms of Hades, according to the mythology of the ancients. There was a river of Thesp roti a, in Epirus, of the same name, and also one in Italy, near which Alexander, king of the Molo i, was slain; both of which, from the unwholesome and foul nature of their waters, were supposed to communicate with the infernal stream. "Sad Acheron, of sorrow black and deep." - Milton . Acherontia, n. (Zool.) A genus of Lepidopterous insects, fam. Sphingide , which embraces some of the largest European Lepidoptera, the most remarkable of which is the Acherontia atropos , or death's-head hawkmoth. Fig. 22.-ACHERONTIA ATROPOS.