44 British lephdoptera. 



a smooth surface, dotted with pits, many of these pits, especially 

 dorsally on the 4th abdominal, having a crescentic flat ridge in front 

 of them, very much after the sculpturing of the pupa of Mimas tiliae. 

 The prespiracular ridges are also rather numerous and well-marked. 

 The pupa of Timieria hippopha'es again suggests that the larval 

 colouring is of less value systematically than the horn. The pupa 

 is very close to that of H. euphorbiae, varying perhaps a little in the 

 direction of that of T. vespertilio. 



Hybridity among the Eumorphids has been repeatedly recorded, 

 but the data at disposal are weak and have little value scientifically 

 compared with those already detailed (anted, in., pp. 391 et sea.) 

 and relating to the Amorphids. The described forms are Theretra 

 hybr. standfussi, Hyles hybr. epilobii, H, hybr. pauli, H. hybr. eugeni, H. 

 hybr. lippei, Turneria hybr. vespertilioides, Celerio hybr. phileuphorbia. 

 There is no absolute certainty, in fact, that a single reputed hybrid 

 form here mentioned is a hybrid. The parentage is not certainly 

 known nor has a single experiment by breeding ab ovo confirmed 

 the possibility of hybridity in any Eumorphid species unless we 

 accept absolutely the facts of Rossi (Ins. Borse, xix., p. 369). The 

 evidence, however, has been carefully weighed, and the facts are here 

 given. After detailing the reputed hybrids in this subfamily, Standfuss 

 writes ( Handbuch, p. 54) : " All three forms — staudfussi, epilobii, 

 vespertilioides — have both been captured as imagines and also bred 

 from larvae taken at large ; I am not aware that any of these 

 hybrid pairings has been successfully carried out in captivity. 

 Very remarkable Deilephilid . larvae have been found by Herr J. 

 Rober (Dresden) on fuchsia, but, unfortunately, he did not succeed 

 in breeding them. These larvae appeared to have come from a 

 crossing of Hyles euphorbiae and Eumorpha elpenorT Standfuss 

 further notes (Ent., xxxiii., p. 342) that the law that primary 

 hybrids generally produce an individual which is relatively nearer 

 to the phylogenetic older species than the newer, is strikingly 

 exemplified by the hybrid euphorbiae $ x vespertilio $ . He 

 writes : " All the individuals of this crossing which I have yet 

 seen — about 50 specimens — are so near to D. euphorbiae that one 

 would suppose that they were an ill-characterised variation ot 

 the latter species if its hybrid extraction were not known *. The 

 type of D. euphorbiae is distributed over nearly the whole world 

 in numerous species, and is, therefore, almost certainly the relatively 

 older ; whereas D. vespertilio is a solitary type of eccentric character 

 occurring over a very limited area, and, therefore, most probably 

 newly formed." The following are the original descriptions (and later 

 notes) of the forms referred to : 



1. Theretra hybr. standfussi f Bart., " Pal. Gross -Schmett.," ii., p. 122 

 (1900) ; Rossi, "Ins. Borse,'' xix , p. 369, li«, r . (1902). (?) Elpenor x porcellus, Hug., 

 "Mitt. Schw. Ent. Ges ," iii., p. 510 (1872). Elpenorellu*, Stand., ''Cat.," 3rd 

 ed., p. 104 (190F). — Deilephila corpore viridi, lateribus roseis, fascia media longi- 

 tudinal! nulla, thorace viridi, fasciis Longitudinalibus roseis quatuor, antennis 

 albis. Alis anterioribus olivaceis, margine exteriore fascia rubra, tutus den- 



* Standfuss does not inform us how the hybrid extraction of this form 



i«, known. 



f Assumed parentage J porcellus x ? elpenor. The larva was found on 

 Epilobium where one would expect a ? Eumorpha elpenor and not a ? Theretra 

 porcellus to lay its eggs. 



