1907. 156 



Haust. I, p. 127.) Two rather worn examples, both ? , " From collection of 

 Mr. Edmonds of Worcester " (C. W. D.). A very good J , on a large ordinary 

 pin, " From J. B. Hodgkinson, Deer , 1869. Taken at Workington by B. Martin " ; 

 another ^.somewhat worn, " Thornford, nr. Sherborne, Mar. 28, 1862." A very 

 good ? , " Taken in Devonshire at Plympton. Capture i-ecorded in Science Gossip 

 for 1869." Respecting this specimen the captor, Mr. F. A. Ramsey, writes (Science 

 Gossip, March, 1868, p. 65) : " Suspecting one of my two specimens (taken last 

 season) to be a female, I kept it alive some time ; it laid a small number of eggs, 

 and died. I think about thirteen of the eggs hatched ; I placed them on a growing 

 vine in an airy box; some of them grew to about H inch in length, but all 

 ultimately died." Two other ? 's in good order, one Feby. 2nd, 1861, near 

 Torquay, Geo. King, in Intell., p. 155" (Ent. Weekly Intelligencer, vol. IX), and 

 one, very fine, "Taken by E. R. Dale, Gl. Wootton, Dorset, Aug. 22, 1870." 



Choerocampa nerii, L. — The collection contains five examples of this rare 

 visitor to our islands. Of these, the most interesting is a <? , a little faded in 

 colour, but otherwise in good condition with the exception of a small piece out of 

 the apex of each fore-wing, and the top of the head rubbed bare. It is labelled 

 " Taken at Dover by Mr. Leplastrier " (C. W. D.), with a printed label at side, 

 "Dover, Mr. Le Plaistrier, Sept., 1828." The latter date is almost certainly 

 erroneous as regards the year, as the first record of the capture of the imago of 

 C. nerii in our islands appears in the " Entomological Magazine " for 1833 (vol. I, 

 p. 525) as ioWovis:—" Discovery of Sphinx Nerii in England. Sir, — Another 

 addition has been made to our visiting Sphingidas by the capture of the splendid 

 Deilephila (may I call it ?) Nerii at Dover about ten days since. From the state 

 of the specimen, which I have this day examined, it must have been very recently 

 disclosed, the tips of its wings and the top of its head alone being slightly injured 

 by its captor, a lady residing in the above town. * * * J. F. Stephens, 

 Sept. 16th, 1833." The specimen now under consideration is slightly damaged in 

 precisely the same manner as above described. It seems also reasonable to suppose 

 that it was from this example that the beautiful figure in Curtis' "British 

 Entomology," plate 626, was drawn. Curtis {I. c. fol. 626, p. 1) at the time this 

 plate -was published (January, 1837) apparently knew of only two British-taken 

 C. nerii, one of which was in the cabinet of his fellow-workei', J. C. Dale, and was 

 presumably lent to him for the purpose of being figured. This figure, although 

 more fully and richly coloured than the moth is now after the lapse of nearly 

 three-quarters of a century, agrees with it in a remarkable and convincing manner 

 in all the minute details of the markings ; and though Curtis states {I. c. fol. 626, 

 p. 2), " The fine specimen of the moth, which is a female, Mr. Leplastrier informed 

 me was taken by a poor man the latter end of September, 1834, near the pier at 

 Dover, and was brought to him alive," the antennae in the figure, which are very 

 faithfully represented, are obviously those of a (J . It therefore appears to me that 

 these two somewhat discrepant records refer to the capture at Dover of a single 

 specimen of C. nerii which came into the hands of the well-known collector 

 Mr. Leplaistrier, and from him passed to J. C. Dale ; and that this, the first 

 example of this beautiful moth known to have been taken in Britain, has thus been 

 handed down to our time. 



The other four specimens of C. nerii in the collection are labelled as follows : — 



