50 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



of the legs there is a pale rose-coloured line. The entire belly is of a delicate 

 rose-colour ; the legs are bright red, as is also the crown of the prolegs. 

 I found this larva on July 22nd, 1825, on the subalpine mountains of the Dept. 

 of Isere on the banks of the Drac. It was almost full grown and pupated 

 some days later. I brought the pupa to Paris, and, on July 1 8th, 1826, after a 

 year, all but 4 days, there emerged a very fine Sphing-id, which, in colour and 

 markings, appealed to be a hybrid between hippophaes and vespertilio, if only 

 viewed casually, but, as it has yet . to be proved that such crossings occur in 

 the wild state, I prefer to regard it as a legitimate species, especially as two 

 of my acquaintances have obtained the same insect from exactly similar larvae 

 taken in the same locality (Boisduval, Ann. Soc. Linn. Paris, 1827, pp. 114 

 et seq.). 



Boisduval re-described this form later (/cones, ii., p. 22) as 

 "Alls anticis cinereis, fascia obliqua ad apicem, altera basali, 

 punctoque medio obscurioribus ; thorace cinereo, posticis rubro- 

 incarnatis, basi limboque nigris ; omnibus subtus pallido-roseis, 

 atomis sparsis margine basique cinereis. Ce Sphingide etant tres- 

 rare, et ne presentant point de caracteres propres, mais un melange 

 de ceux que nous offrant vespertilio et hippophaes, nous croyons devoir 

 de considerer comme un hybride produit par Taccouplement de ces 



deux especes Nous Tavons trouve en bord du Drac, 



au rocher de Sessin, pres de Grenoble, localite 011 vespertilio et 

 hippophaes sont fort commun. Voyez pour la figure et la descrip- 

 tion de la chenille, notre Icon, des Chen, d' Europe, pi. ix., fig. 1." 

 Boisduval notes that the forewings have similar markings to Turneria 

 hippophaes, but the tint a little more ashy ; the hindwings on the contrary 

 being almost exactly like those of Thau?nas vespertilio. Bartel says 

 (Pal. Gross-ScJunett., ii., p. 61) : The peculiar larva of vespertilioides ex- 

 hibits, in colour and markings, a mixture of the characters of the larvae 

 of Thaumas vespertilio and Turneria hippophaes, but it is darker than 

 the latter, bronze-green, only occasionally duller green, the tint a mixture 

 of those of the larvae of the parent species. The front part of the 

 body of the larva is rather less stout than in that of T. vespertilio, 

 and, like the rest of the body, is furnished with white dots which, 

 however, are not nearly so numerous, though much larger, and 

 only become weaker on the upper anterior part of the segments ; 

 two greenish-white, scarcely conspicuous, lateral lines run from the head 

 to the last segment, and carry, on each side, as in larva of T. vespertilio, 

 a row of reddish but smaller dot-like spots, their colour in the 

 anterior portion connecting them with the lines ; in these darker 

 ringed spots the white dots are wanting. The very small caudal 

 horn sometimes almost obsolete. The two spots at its sides are 

 placed as in the larva of T. hippophaes, usually rather long, bright flesh- 

 colour and bordered by a few black striae. A white longitudinal line runs 

 along each side of the body. The spiracles are orange-centred, ringed 

 as in the larva of T. vespertilio with black, whilst tinder these runs a pale 

 rose-red stripe above the legs, which is made up of separate reddish 

 spotlets, of which only one lies on each segment. Head dull 

 green tinged with weak reddish-grey ; mouthparts brown ; venter 

 and upper part of claspers reddish, the undersides of latter and 

 true legs deep red. Some larvae, approaching more closelv those of 

 7'. hippophaes in the length of the caudal horn, are found in July and 

 Atigust on Epilobiiun angustifolium and E. dodonaet\ whilst those 

 which most approach the larvae of T. hippophaes feed on Hippophae 

 rhamnoidest The larvae were taken with those of the parent species. The 



