76 EEV. A. MILES MOSS ON" THE 



13,000 to 15,000 feet, the more prolific portion is naturally that characterised by an 

 abundance of aromatic shrubs, wild flowers, and cacti. Here between 5,000 and 12,000 

 feet on the western slopes, and from 12,000 down to 5,600 feet on the eastern side, 

 many other characteristically mountain species are met with. This, then, while being 

 a purely arbitrary distinction, and grouping together many dissimilar forms of life, may 

 broadly be regarded as a single entomological or botanical area. 



It will be noted that this district is separated, the east from the west, by some 40 miles 

 of barren highlands, Avhich include the two main Cordilleras and the highest peaks of 

 the Andes — a separate region, and one full worthy of an entomological treatise, but 

 not the true habitat of any Sphingidse ; and my ground for regarding it as one is the 

 reappearance, amongst other forms that are new, of at least many species of plants and 

 insects that are identical or closely allied to forms which occur at a corresponding 

 elevation on the opposite sides of the main Cordilleras. 



My third field of entomological research, undoubtedly one of the very finest in the 

 world, was the Interior proper, which is reached in a two days' ride from Oroya by 

 horse or mule, and is entered upon at Huacapistana at 5,600 feet. For a league or 

 more previously the transition from district to district grows in evidence as the path 

 descends to lower levels, and bushes and trees, which are new to the eye, increase in 

 number and variety at every turn of the road. The increased thickness of the foliage 

 of many of these flowering shrubs and the large-sized leaves of the trees are very 

 noticeable features. Beyond Huacapistana Hotel, however, the climate becomes 

 distinctly milder and warmer, all the conditions of life are entirely difi'erent, and the 

 scenery rapidly assumes the full magnificence of a luxuriant tropical vegetation. 



With regard to the Interior and its wealth of Lepidoptera, nothing short of twelve 

 months of steady, uninterrupted work at some fixed headquarters would suffice to deal 

 at all adequately with even such regions as those of Chanchamayo and Perene, and an 

 occasional holiday was all that was possible in connection with my official duties 

 at Lima. 



These, then, in brief outline, were the three districts in which my entomological 

 observations were made, and to which the present work is restricted. 



From the moment of landing on the continent at Colon, and even before, it became 

 apparent to me that the Sphingidae occupied a position in South America scarcely 

 inferior to its great and gorgeous butterflies ; and while making a general collection I 

 determined at the outset to specialise to some extent with the Sphingidae and 

 Saturniidae. Larvas-searching has ever a great attractiveness about it, and not less is 

 this the case in a new land amongst new vegetation, where little is known and any- 

 thing may be expected to turn up. The search was maintained with diligence and 

 regularity throughout my entire sojourn abroad, and resulted in the working out of 

 not a few life-histories and the careful figuring in water-colours of many larvae and 

 pupse, together with some of their characteristic food-plants. Every green nook was 



