ly BRITISH MOTHS 



SPECIES 2.— DEILEPHILA GALII. THE SCARCE SPOTTED HAWK-MOTH. 



PUitc iv. fig. 4 — 5. 



12, f. 2 ; Wood, Ind. Ent. t. 4, f. 15 ; Duucan, Brit, llotbs, pi. 7, 

 f. 2. 



Hyles Gain, Iltibnci- (Vcrz. bck. Schm.) 



SvNON\Mi!s.— i>Atn.c Gain, Hulincr, S|ihiiig. pi. 12, fig. 64; 

 H.iworth, Em. Tmns., 1, pi. 4; Hairis, Aurcliun, pi. 44, fig. b 

 (rolcipillar) ; Dc Gcer, Ins. 1, pi. 8. 



Deilephila Gn/ii, Ocbscnhciiiicr ; Lcacli ; Stepbcus, II. H. I, pi. 



This si)ccies is very closely allied to D. Eiipliorbiie, and is with difficulty discriminated from that beautiful 

 species, although unquestionably distinct. The exjiansion of the fore wings is three inches or rather less ; and 

 their "round-colour is dark brown, tinged with olive or green, having a somewhat broad irregular bar of a pale 

 yellowish colour, extending from near the base of the inner margin to the apex ; two branches of the same colour 

 extend from the front edge of this bar, and run obliquely towards the costa. The apical margin is ashy, the inner 

 edo-e of this colour being irregular ; a fine white edging extends along the inner margin of the wing. There is 

 also a white and a black spot at the base of each wing, the latter bordered with white, and a small discoidal patch 

 of long whitish hairs. The hind wings are clouded with bright rosy-red, with the base, and a bar running parallel 

 with the hinder margin, black. The head and thorax are dark brown, slightly margined with white at the sides; and 

 the latter is i)aler behind. The abdomen is brown, with two black bars at the base, interrupted in the middle, 

 and succeeded by white bars of the same extent ; there are also several similar white bars, but more indistinct, 

 near the extremity of the body. Along the middle of the back is a row of small white dots, by which the 

 species is at once distinguished from D. Euphorbia", as well as the deeper, more terminal, and blacker band, near 

 the margin of the under wing ; but more especially by the broad dusky border of all the wings beneath, which 

 in D. Euphorbi;e arc not bordered at all. The antenna are brown, with the tips white ; and the under side of 

 the thorax and abdomen is tinged with green. 



The caterpillar is of an olive-green colour, with a yellow dorsal line, and a row of yellow pear-shaped spots, 

 bordered with black on each side of each segment. The sjiiracles are yellow, and there is a line of the 

 same colour above the legs; of which latter the fore ones are black, and the pro-legs flesh-coloured. It 

 feeds on several species of Galium, such as the wild madder (G. mollugo), the yellow lady's-bedstraw 

 (G. verum). 



This is a very rare species in this country. The earliest recorded instance of its occurrence is given by 

 Harris in the Aurclian, in which he has figured the caterpillar, which was found at Barns-Cray, Kent. He, 

 however, mistook it fur that of D. Euphorbice. Mr. Haworth possessed a specimen from the cabinet of Captain 

 Lindegren ; but he also, like Linnrous, long mistook it for a variety of S. Euphorbias. He, however, figured 

 it as distinct in the Entomological Transactions ; having been informed that Colonel Montague, the distin- 

 guished ornithologist, had taken the larvre of both species in Devonshire, from which he had succeeded in 

 rearing the moths. Other instances have been recorded of its capture in Cornwall and Devonshire, as well as in 

 the ncighbourhoiid of London, tlie Isle of Wight, near Warwick and Worcester, Twizel N. B., Cum Wheaton, 

 Cumberland; Cramond, near EJinburgh. ]\Ir. II. Doubleday also took it, very early in the morning, in 

 August, 18.31, hovering over the flowers of Argemone grandiflora. On the Continent it appears widely dis- 

 tributed, although most abundant in latitudes south of Paris, being rare near the last-named city. 



