THE CONVOLVULUS HAWK-MOTH IN SCOTLAND 289 



THE CONVOLVULUS HAWK-MOTH 

 IN SCOTLAND 



The present year has witnessed the influx of a large number 

 of specimens of Sphinx convolvuli, Linn., the Convolvulus 

 Hawk-moth, into all parts of the British Isles. Many captures 

 and notes of occurrence have been reported to us, while 

 others have been recorded in the daily press and (as regards 

 England especially) in certain of our entomological con- 

 temporaries, proving that the year 19 17 will take its place 

 with others, such as 1846, 1868, 1875, 1885, and 1887, as 

 one of the more important "immigration" seasons, when 

 vast numbers arrive in this country from abroad, having faced 

 the perils of a journey across the Channel or the North Sea. 



As the actual records of this fine species are either 

 unpublished, or, if published, scattered in the columns of 

 local newspapers, etc., it is desirable that they should be 

 gathered together and placed in a more definite and 

 permanent form, while the same remark applies to those 

 which have been personally reported to us. We have, 

 therefore, arranged below all the occurrences known to us 

 in some sort of order, and trust that the ensemble will be 

 useful to the lepidopterist now and henceforth. 



The following records are arranged under counties, in the 

 sequence followed by the Watsonian scheme, and as regards 

 those furnished to us by correspondents, we follow as closely 

 as possible their own words. We take the opportunity of 

 thanking our contributors, whose names are appended to the 

 various notes, for the information supplied by them. 



Kirkcudbright. Mr James M'Cargo, of Kirkpatrick- 

 Durham, forwarded a specimen for identification, on 10th 

 September, with the remark that it was " got in this district 

 last week." 



Wigtown. A note by Sir Herbert Maxwell on the 

 occurrence of a specimen at Monreith on 7th September 

 was published in our November number (p. 278). In a 

 further letter the same observer writes : " Another specimen 

 was picked up in the street of Newton Stewart, killed, 

 apparently, by flying against a window." 



