328 NoiaTATES ZOOLOQICAE XXIV. 1917. 



8. Sphinx pinastri pinastri Linn. 

 Sphinx pinaMri Linnaeus, Sysl. Nat. edit. x. p. 492. No. 20 (1758) (Europe). 



Mr. Cliarles Oberthiir records 1 $ taken by Harold Powell near Lambessa. 

 We have only met with this species at Hammam R'ihra. In 1908 at the foot 

 of an overturned Finns halepensis I found a dead pupa, and that was the only 

 evidence we had till I caught a o and a $ flying round the honeysuckle hedge 

 (Lonicera) near the Grand Hotel in 1913. 



Faroult found three larvae in 1916, one of \\'hich he prepared, one died 

 in the pupa, and the third emerged as a very small and pale 3 specimen. There 

 appears to be no difference from typical European specimens ; but a larger series 

 from various parts of Mauretania may later on show this to be a distinct form 

 after all. 



1 cJ, 1 ? Hammam R'ihra, May— June 1913, W, R. and E. H. 

 1 <J Hammam R'ihra, ex larva, 1916, Faroult. 

 1 larva, 1 pupa, Hammam R'ihra. 



There are no Mauretanian examples recorded, except Mr. Oberthiir's speci- 

 men and the three in the Tring Museum. 



9. Celerio nicaea castissima (Aust.). 



Deikphila nicaea var. castissima Austaut, Le Natural, vol. v. p. 360 (1889) (Sebdou). 



The ab. carnea Aust. has a decided rufous-cinnamon suffusion. 



We never found this insect ourselves. Harold Powell says that the melanic 

 form of the larva is extremely rare in a state of nature, but that when the larvae 

 are reared in captivity a very large proportion become melanic. He says the 

 change is only apparent after the last moult. This is slightly different from what 

 I have to record. The single melanic larva preserved by Faroult from " Puits 

 Baba " was found adult and after its last moult, and was not the product of 

 captivity. 



The 10 larvae from Aflou had no indications as to being already melanic 

 when found. But the difference from those recorded bj' Harold Powell con- 

 sists in the fact that this scries begins with the second instar and goes up to the 

 fuU-fed larva, and they all, from the smallest to the largest, are melanic ; which 

 shows that some larvae of nicaea castissima become melanic before the last 

 moult. 



A specimen of the perfect insect from " Puits Baba " is also melanic ; it 

 has the forewings entirely dark bronzy green, except a pink discoceUular stigma 

 and a pinkish patch above the inner margin from which an oblique line of a few 

 pinkish spots runs to apex. The dark submarginal band of the hindwings is 

 enormously expanded. I have an entirely similar specimen of the European 

 C. euphorbiae euphorbiae. The Tring series of 48 specimens was selected from 

 about 150 examples. Faroult has a number of living pupae from Aflou which 

 should emerge in June and July of this year. 



1 Meridje, Morocco, ex Austaut coll. 



3 Sebdou, inchiding the types of castissima Aust. and ab. carnea Aust. 



2 Khenchela, June 1911. Faroult. 

 42 Puits Baba, 1913, Faroult. 



