4 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



Old World, and is particularly numerous in the Indian Region. The 

 moths may be generally recognised by their strongly thickened 

 antennae, hooked at the tip, the thickly scaled dark brown or 

 blackish forewings, more or less coppery-red hindwings, and the 

 undentated hind margins. The black anal tuft, too, is very 

 conspicuous. Nearly all the species are very similar to Sesia 

 stellatarum in size, colour, shape and general appearance. Their 

 mode of flight is too well known to need any detailed mentioning. 



Bartel gives ( Palaeark. Gross-Schmett., ii., p. 213) the following table 

 for the determination of the Palrearctic species belonging to this genus : 



Wings scaled throughout. Forewings dark with blackish markings. 



1. Hindwings sulphur-yellow, etc. .. .. .. caudata, Brem. 



and Grey. 



2 . Hindwings ochre-yellow ; at the base blackish-grey, 

 before the outer margin narrowly red -brown. 

 Antennas blackish -grey. Thorax unicolorous. 

 Abdomen on the sides of the first two segments 



without yellow spots . . . . . . . . stellatarum, L. 



3. Hindwings black-brown, with an orange-yellow 

 transverse band in the middle, etc. . . saga, Butl. 



Sesia stellatarum, Linne. 

 Synonymy.— Species : Stellatarum, Linn., " Sys. Nat.," xth ed., p. 

 493 (1 758) ; xiith ed., p. 803 (1767); "Faun. Suec," ii., p. 288 (1761), etc. 

 Flavida, Retz., " Gen. et Spec. Ins.," p. 33 (1783). Stellarum, Geoff., 

 "Fourc. Ent. Par.," p. 253 (1785); Latr., "Hist. Nat. Crust. Ins.," xiv., 

 p. 133 (1805). Nigra, Cosmovici, " Le Nat.," xiv., p. 280 (1892); Kirby, 

 Nov. Zool.," i., p. 99 (1894). [N.B. All other references mentioned under 

 the generic synonymy (antea, pp. 2-3) are referable to stellatarum.'] 



Original description. — Sphinx stellatarum, abdomine barbato 

 lateribus albo nigroque variis, alis posticis ferrugineis. Merian, 

 Eur., 2, p. 33, t. 29, Reaum., Ins., i., t. 12, f. 5, 6. Roes., Ins., 

 i., phal. i, t. 8. Bradl., Natur., t. 26, f. 1, A. Habitat in Galio, 

 Rubia (Linne, Sys. Nat., xth ed., p. 493, no. 26). 



Imago. — 54mm. — 60mm. Head, thorax and abdomen blackish- 

 grey, the middle abdominal segments paler and with a pale yellowish 

 lateral patch on either side of these segments ; a black angular 

 transverse mark behind the paler area ; black and white lateral tufts to 

 terminal segments of abdomen and black anal tuft. Anterior wings 

 blackish-grey, sometimes with a slight ochreous tinge ; an indistinct 

 basal line, a black transverse line at some distance from base, black 

 angulated line from costa to anal angle ; a dark terminal shade, 

 broader at apex and very narrow at anal angle ; fringes of same colour 

 as outer marginal area. Posterior wings coppery- or ochre-yellow, 

 slightly darker at outer margin, covered with long grey scales at 

 base ; a dark outer marginal line from apex to two-thirds towards 

 anal angle ; fringes paler, greyish-ochreous. 



Sexual dimorphism. — In this species sexual dimorphism is 

 reduced to a very trifling amount. The antennae in both sexes 

 have about 52 — 56 joints, each carrying dorsal scales arranged in 

 two obvious and tolerably regular rows, and with a third row close to 

 the base and hidden (being formed of short scales) by the terminal row 

 of the preceding segment. The male has well-developed hairs in the 

 ordinary pocket or slipper-toe arrangement of the Sphingids, the 

 female a smooth under-surface with fine hairs. The anterior tibial 

 spine is slightly variable, but arises in (he female a little further from 

 the base of the tibia than in the male, and is, therefore, very slightly 



