156 



OLEANDER HAWK-MOTH. 



Metopsilus Nerii. 

 PLATE IX. 



Sphinx Nerii, Linn.Rosers Insecten-bdustigung, vol. iii. tab. XV. 

 larva xvi. imago Sphinx du Laurier-rose, Godart ; Pap. 

 de France, vol. iii., Crepuscidaires, p. 12. 



THE primary wings of this conspicuous and elegant 

 species expand upwards of four inches. The surface 

 is of a fine deep olive- green, variously shaded with 

 white and rose-colour, distributed in undulating 

 lines and transverse streaks. At the origin of each 

 of the upper wings there is a whitish spot with a 

 dot in the centre and a small transverse streak of 

 olive-green; heyond this are three whitish waved 

 lines running somewhat obliquely across the surface, 

 dilated at the inner margin into a rose-coloured 

 patch, succeeded by a broad oblique rosy ban4 

 extending from one side of the wing to the other : 

 beyond this there is a broad patch of a violet-colour 

 bounded anteriorly by a white zigzag line, and 

 surmounted by two whitish curved lines drawn to 

 the anterior edge; the apex bears a white figure 

 having some resemblance to the letter Y reversed. 



