SPHINGID.E. 21 



and throwing it into tlie air, to flutter even the smallest 

 distance, but when aroused at night it has probably immense 

 power and endurance, and has very often been found upon 

 ships at sea, which it must have flown hundreds of miles to 

 gain. A note has just reached me from Mr. J. Eoss, 

 Anstruther, Fifeshire : " I have now brought me a very 

 good female specimen, by one of our fishermen. It was 

 found at rest on one of the blocks of his boat, in the North 

 Sea, about lOO miles east of May Island." When it happens 

 to fly at night, in, at an open window, to a bedroom, there is 

 no more sleep for the occupants until the noisy powerful 

 creature is caught and in some way silenced. 



Irregular in its times of appearance ; in some years, as in 

 1865, 1869, and 1877 very common, especially in the larva 

 state ; but usually scarce. Appears to have been taken in 

 every part of the United Kingdom, including the Orkney 

 and Shetland Islands. In the south of Ireland sufiiciently 

 common to be known under the local name of the "bee- 

 robber." Everywhere uncertain, and in many parts occurring 

 only casually and at long intervals, but found almost every 

 year in the warmer portions of the southern and eastern 

 counties of England. 



■ One or two observers have noticed that the moth when 

 squeezed is able to exude a peculiar odour, which has been 

 compared to that of musk, and of jasmine. 



Abroad it is found over the whole of Europe and large 

 portions of Africa and Western Asia, and has even been 

 brought from Sumatra, though, in the last case, the capture 

 seems to have been made at sea. 



Genus 3. SPHINX. 



Antennas long and moderately stout, terminated by a thin, 

 sharp, slightly curved bristle ; tongue of great length ; fore 

 wings long, pointed, stout and strong, with the hind margin 

 slightly rounded ; hind wings short and broad, rounded and 



