DILErHII.A. 



33 



of the thorax, which is occasionally suffused with reddish. 

 The abdomen is of the same colour as the thorax, with three 

 white and two black spots on each side. The last three 

 incisions are white on the sides. 



Several varieties of this species are met with, the prettiest 

 being that in which the band on the fore-wings is rose- 

 coloured. 



The full-grown larva is greenish-black, with numerous white 

 dots. The head and legs, as well as the dorsal line, are red, 

 and the horn is red above, and black beneath. On the side 

 of each segment is a large yellow spot, with a smaller, elon- 

 gated one beneath it, and above the legs is a yellow line 

 spotted with red. It changes, beneath the ground or under 

 leaves, into a brownish-yellow pupa with dark wing-cases. It 

 feeds on different species of spurge {Euphorbia cyparissias 

 and E. esida), and will also eat E. pepliis. 



Some authors have called this species the Spotted Elephant 

 Hawk-moth, but this is an improper term, the larv^ of the 

 genus Dilepldla not exhibiting the peculiar form which has 

 given the name of Elephant Hawk-moths to Cho^rocaifipa 

 elpenor and its allies. 



This is by far the commonest species of the genus through- 

 out the greater part of Central Europe, and it also extends to 

 the Mediterranean Region and to Western Asia. It is, how- 

 ever, very rare in England, once only having been met with 

 in any quantity, a Mr. Raddon having found the larvae 

 abundantly on the sea spurge, on the extensive sandhills at 

 Braunton Burrows, near Bideford, Devon. This was eighty 

 years ago, and the locality has frequently been searched for 

 the insect since without success, though the larva of D. galii 

 is found there. Except by Mr. Raddon, only single specimens 

 of the Spurge Hawk-moth have been met with in England at 

 long intervals. A long account of the habits of the larva, 

 14 U 



