SPHINGID.^. 



35 



Northern and Western Asia, In North America a form is 

 found having little or no trace of the rosy colour on the hind 

 wings, which has been named S. drupiferarum ^ but it seems 

 to be no more than a local variety of this species. 



[S. quinquemaculatus, Haw. ; Carolina, L. — Of this 

 species, Haworth stated that he possessed a specimen taken 

 at Chelsea by his friend D. Drury. This specimen still 

 exists in the collection of Dr. P. B. Mason, at Burton-on- 

 Trent, and shows the ancient label " Taken near Chelsea." 

 The late Mr. J. C. Dale wrote : " I saw a specimen actually 

 bred at Leeds, another taken at Hull, one at Chelsea, and 

 have heard of two or three others," and Stephens mentions 

 seven or eight specimens which he believed to have been 

 taken in this country, also mentioning the name of the 

 gentleman by whom a specimen was reared at Leeds, but he 

 adds, with great truth, " Its true locality is North America. 

 I have no doubt all were imported," and goes on to protest 

 against the inclusion of accidentally imported species, such 

 as this, in the British fauna. " If this be admitted, as 

 well might the ' noble monarch of the forest ' because a 

 captive lioness, which had escaped from her prison, was 

 re-taken upon Salisbury Plain." This opinion has met 

 with general acceptance, and the moth, a noble-looking 

 species, has long ceased to vex the souls of entomologists by 

 its visits.] 



[S. Drursei, Don. ; Cingulata, Fah. — Another North 

 American species, of which the late Mr. E. Newman wrote : " I 

 possessed for many years a specimen which bore a first-rate 

 pedigree as a true Briton, and have seen others," and 

 Stephens mentions the capture of a specimen about 1778, 

 near London, which was carried alive to the late Mr. Drury ; 

 also another taken in September 1826 in a nursery ground 

 near the Kent Road, and a third in his own cabinet, taken 

 near London, but as with the last species, is satisfied that all 



