JEgeria Asi/iformis, Slepliens ; Curtis ; Duncan, Brit. Moths, pi. 

 13, fig. 2; Wood, Ind. Ent. t. 4, f. 25. 



Paranthrene Asiliformis, Hiibner, Verz. bek. Schmett. 



Sphinx- Tabanifonnis, Borkh. (var.). 



Sphinx aSslri/ormis, Kirby and Spence, Introd. vol. 1, pi. 3, f. 2, 

 Ist edit. 



AND THEIR TRANSFORMATIONS. 3- 



SPECIES 1.— TROCHILIUM VESPIFORMB. 



Plate vii. fig. 3. 



Synonymbs. — Sphinx Vespiformis, I-inntcus (not Sesia Vespi- 

 formis, Laspcyrcs ; JEyeria v., Curtis, &c). 



Memythrus Vespiformis, Newman in S])h. Vesp. 



Paranthrene Vespiformis, Newm. in Ent. Mag., 1, 83. 



Sphinx (or Sesia) Asiliformis, Iliibncr ; Kabricius ; Laspeyrcs ; 

 Haworth; Donovan, Brit. Ins. v. xi.pl. 384. Kirby and Spence, 

 Inlrod. V. I, pi. 3, fig. 2, 3rd edit. 



This is the largest Britisli species, varying in the expansion of its wings from an inch to an inch and a quarter. 

 It is further distinguished by having tlie fore wings covered with dark scales ; it is of a blue black colour, 

 with a white line before the eyes ; the collar is yellow, as are also the tips of the palpi. Tlie thorax has a 

 lateral stripe and a spot of yellow, at the base of the fore wings. The abdomen has three equi-distant, yellow 

 fasciae, and the tail has two longitudinal streaks of yellow. The femora are black, the hind ones yellow at the 

 base; the tibiae fulvous, and marked with a black spot on the outside, and the tarsi fulvous. The male differs 

 in being smaller, with the antennas decidedly pectinated, and in the abdomen having five belts, the alternate ones 

 being very slender. 



The larva of this species feeds, according to Oehlmann, on the wood of Betula alba. Borkhausen gives 

 Populus dilatata as its food. The species (for the restoration of the specific Liimrean name * to which we are 

 indebted to Mr. Newman, or rather to Jlr. Bracy Clark, as stated by Lespeyres, and by Mr. Newman himself) 

 is of very rare occurrence in England, but has been occasionally found in the woods of Surrey, Kent, and 

 Middlesex, in the liondon district. 



" B Antenna as long as the body ; of the males generally ciliated ; anterior wings with the disc hyaline." 

 " a. Abdomen more or less robust and abbreviated, fasciated with whitish or yellow." 



SPECIES 2.— TROCHILIUM CHRYSIDIFORME. 



Plato vii. fig. 4. 



Synonymes. — Sphinx (or Sesia) Chrysidiformis, De Villavs ; 



Borkha\iscn ; Laspeyres ; Haworth ; Espcr ; Hiibner ; Ochsenhcimcr. 



JEgeria Chrysidiformis, Sicfhcm; Curtis; Duncan, Brit. Moths, 



Bembecia Chrysidiformis, Hiibner, Verz. bek. Schmett. 

 Pyropteron Chrysidiformis, Newtnau, Ent. Mag. 1, 76. 

 Sphinx Hoimnrrhoidalis, Cyrillo. 



pi. 13, fig. 4. M'ood, Ind. Ent. pi. 4, (ig. 5. I Sesia Crabroniformis,¥nhv. 



This handsome species measures ten lines in the expansion of the fore wings. It is of a blue-black colour ; 

 the last joint of the palpi is naked, and pale yellowish. (In my specimen I do not observe the peculiarity 

 described by Mr. Newman, upon which his genus Pyropteron is founded). The head has a white spot in front, 

 and the collar is yellowish ; the thorax has a few scattered yellowish hairs, and a white spot at the base of each 

 of the fore wings ; the abdomen has the fifth and last segment on the upper side margined with white ; the fan 

 tail is black, with the middle yellow. The fore wings are saffron-coloured, with an elongated, hyahne patch in 



* In the Linnsean description in the Systema Natura5, the wings are described as fenestrated ; and in the Fauna Suecica, as having a yellowish 

 spot. This description, which has so much perplexed subsequent Lepidopterists, arises from the wings having been much rubbed. The obser- 

 vation of Linnseus, that it is twice the size of Tipuliforme, at once disproves the conjecture of Laspeyres, &c., that it was intended either for 

 Ichneumoniforme or Cynipiforme $ . 



