( cxxxi ) 



nerii, Haemorrkagia fuciformis). Since there is no barrier to prevent these 

 species from going farther east, it is manifest that the reason for their restriction 

 to, and their occurrence in. South and West India is biological. That is to 

 saj, the Western Peninsula otters conditions of life suitable to those Fahiearctic 

 and African species, while the Central North and East of India do not. The 

 differences between the West and North East are biological, most likely meteoro- 

 logical. There is nothing whatever in the composition of the Sphingid fauna 

 (and of other families of Lepidoptera) to indicate that there ever was another 

 road of communication between the Western Peninsula inclusive of Ceylon and 

 Continental Africa than South Persia and Arabiix, though the road may have 

 been less barren. 



The species which are common to the Oriental and Aethiojiian Uegiims, 

 besides the before-mentioned Dcilephila nerii, which is decidedly African, are only 

 four — namely, Jlfrsc coiKokuli, Cfphonodes h;/las, Cclerio lineata lirornira, and 

 lli]>jiofion celerio. Two of them are wanderers, occurring nearly all over the 

 Eastern Hemisphere {Herse conwlvidi and Hippotion celerio) : Cckrio liiicata 

 livoriiica is also a wanderer, but does not go fiirther east than (Continental 

 Asia and Japan, lineata being absent from the Blalay Archipelago and rejjre- 

 sented again by a special subspecies in Australia (C. lineata licornicoideii) ; and 

 Cephonodes lujlas from the Aethiopian Region is subspecifically different from 

 the Oriental hylas. It is evident that, apart from the three wanderers, no 

 exchange has taken place within more recent date. Nevertheless, there is a close 

 affinity between the two tropical Old World Regions dating from a more remote 

 period, evidence of which is found in the genera Acherontia, Clanis, Leucophlebia, 

 Folijptijchus, Sphingonaepiopais, Deilephila, JSepkele, Cephonodes, Hippotion, and 

 TIteretra, which are found both in Africa and India. There are, besides, several 

 Aethiopian genera which are close allies of Indian ones — for instance, Peinba, 

 Poliana, Maassenia, Rhadinopasa ; and the Oriental genus Gurelca i s a derivation 

 from Temnoni, Rhodosoma of India comes close to Ih/paedalia of W'est Africa ^ 

 and the Aethiopian Atemnora is the prototype of Macroglossum, the tifty-one 

 Oriental species of which are almost 25 per cent, of the total number of 

 species of Oriental Spltingidae. 



The African Sphingid fauna is as yet very imperfectly known. The pro- 

 portion of undescribed species arriving from there is very large. We do not 

 think the number of species and genera is much inferior to that of the Oriental 

 fauna. There are as yet known .02 genera and 179 species,* of which 38 genera 

 and 172 species are peculiar to the Aethiopian fauna, a proportionally very large 

 number. Acherontia alro/inn and IhiU-pliiUi nerii, which extend outside the 

 Region, but are also Aethiopian in origin, must be added, making a total of 174 

 truly Aethiopian Sphinyidue. The separation of the African Continent into a 

 Western, a Southern, and an Eastern district is not very distinct in the Hawk 

 Moths. The faunistic differences between the West African forest region and the 

 drier and more open districts of the Eastern side of the Continent are biohigical 

 • IlippiUivn aurura, dcbcribcd ou p. 812, i» nut incluilcd in this number. 



