26 B. C. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



their long tongues. They are the most elegant of all the Lepidoptera, 

 the quiet but exquisite shades of olive, tan, brown, black and yellow, 

 with touches here and there of pink and blue, combine to make a most 

 harmonious coloration. 



The different species in British Columbia arranged in accordance 

 with Barnes and McDunnough's Check List are as follows: 



(1) 668 Sphinx vancouverensis Hy. Edw., or as it is commonly 

 called, the Vancouver Sphinx. This species is fairly common on Van- 

 couver Island, although it is not well represented in British Columbia 

 collections. It is greyish brown in colour, with shades of paler grey 

 and a few scattered black lines. 



It feeds on snowberry and is on the wing in July. It occurs from 

 Vancouver Island throughout Southern British Columbia to Kaslo and 

 Rossland. Its range extends southward to about San Francisco and 

 eastward to Alberta and Montana. 



There is a variety of this species named albescens Tapper, which 

 is supposed to fly wil>li it, but I have not seen a specimen of it in any 

 British Columbia collection. It occurs in Alberta, however, and also 

 in Manitoba ; it is a smaller insect, with the costa and outer margin 

 of the primaries a very pale grey, as is also the centre of the thorax. 

 In The Moth Book. p. 51, Holland speaks of albescens as having a very 

 dark thorax; this is an error, as that description applies to vancou- 

 verensis, although his figure on Plate VI is correct. 



(2) 690 Sphinx perelegans Hy. Edw., or the Elegant Sphinx. 

 This is a species which has been overlooked in our collections. It is 

 rather rare but may be more common than supposed, as it is ver}' liable 

 to be confused with vancouverensis, especially by those collectors who 

 are not aware of a similar species occurring in our fauna. It has a 

 much larger wing expanse and differs in the following particulars : it 

 lacks the distinct narrow black line parallelling the outer margin of the 

 primaries ; the black sub-apical streak is disconnected, farming in this 

 species two streaks, one slightly below the other; it has also a small 

 brown discal spot on the primaries, and has a distinct whitish sub- 

 marginal band. 



This species was first mentioned by the late Rev. G. W. Taylor in 

 the Can. Ent. Dec. 1909. He took five specimens with him to Ottawa 

 and studied them in conjunction with Mr. Arthur Gibson, and after 

 studying the descriptions of vancouverensis, albescens, vashti and per- 

 elegans, found that they agreed perfectly with the latter. Of the five 

 specimens taken, four were from Wellington and one from Peachland. 

 The only three specimens I have seen are from the Duncan district, 

 where they were taken by the late Mr. E. M. Skinner some twenty-five 

 years ago. In the Bull. B. C. Ent. Soc. Sept. 1906, Mr. Cockle lists 

 S. drupiferarum A. & S. from Kaslo, identified from Holland's Moth 

 Book, but I rather doubt this record and believe that it refers to per- 



