52 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



i goo, at Hiiningen, in Upper Alsace, on Epilobium rosmai'inifolium, 

 differed from the typical form in coloration and markings, and, in some 

 cases, by having a caudal horn, in others a short horn ; they became 

 very variable at the last ecdysis, and no two of the fifteen were exactly 

 alike ; part, however, are said to have been not very unlike the larva of H. 

 hybr. epilobii (no details are given as to how the comparison with this 

 larva was made), another section was hardly separable from T. vespertilio, 

 the remainder about midway between both forms. The markings of H. 

 hybr. euge?ii are very similar to those of H. hybr. epilobii, but the colora- 

 tion is very similar to that of T. vespertilio. Lippe, in the same locality, 

 on the same foodplant, but at a later date, collected 18 almost fullfed 

 larvae, probably of the same brood, and bred similar imagines, and 

 some of his imagines are figured by Mory. Mory asserts that 

 the examples cannot be aberrations of T. vespertilio, because the larvae 

 possess striking hybrid characters, i.e., either the characteristic 

 caudal horn or a coloration reminding one of the larvae of H. hybr. 

 epilobii. The rest of Mory's long argument is full of assumptions, 

 and, as the whole of his facts are summarised above and his figures 

 are available, lepidopterists can draw their own conclusions. We 

 own to more than a doubt as to the hybrid origin of the moths. 



5. Hyles hybr. lippei *, Mory, " Mitt. Schw. Ent. Ges.," x., p. 344, 

 figs. 7-9 (iqoi). — Three of the larvae included in the description of 

 those of eugeni [supra) produced imagines iu August, 1900, which I 

 here name lippei. Which of the larvae produced the moths is unknown. 

 Lippe also bred a specimen like these. Three imagines are figured 

 (figs. 7, 8 and 9), one (fig. 8) came from Lippe, the others bred bv myself. 

 The moths are not very dissimilar from those of T. vespertilio. The oblique 

 band of forewings is entirely absent. The spots on the dorsal margin are only 

 represented by a weak indication of the second spot on the transverse nervure, 

 which is about as distinct as in T\ vespertilio. The basal spot is not larger than 

 in 7 . vespertilio, the white tufts are, however, connected with it as in H. hybr. eugeni. 

 The disc of the wing and the space usually occupied by the oblique band (except 

 the borders) vary in the scaling from pale to strongly red. Lippe's example (fig. 8; 

 is so intensely red-scaled that the grey bordering, in the form of a line, is 

 clearly in contrast with the rest of the wing. This difference in the red-scaling 

 of the three examples may probably be referred simply to individual variability. 

 Fringes as in H. hybr. eugeni. The hindwings are not essentially different from those 

 of H. hybr. eugeni, though the pale spot at ihe anal angle is more strongly tinted 

 with reddish, but in each case paler than in T. vespertilio. In one ? , the basal 

 spot and marginal band (which is as in //. hybr. eugeni. clearly at a distance from 

 the margin) are in connection with each other. The body of //. hybr. lippei is lighter 

 than that of//, hybr. eugeni, in fact, only a little darker than in /'. vespertilio. No 

 essential differences in the underside between //. hybr. lippei and //. hybr. eugeni. 

 The differences b iween //. hybr. lippei and T. vespertilio rest rather on the different 

 physiognomy of the forms than on detailed and special characters, although such are not 

 wanting, e.g., 11. hybr. lippei maybe separated from T. vespertilio by the greater dis- 

 tance between the marginal band of hindwings and fringes, by the light spot at the anal 

 angle of hindwings, by the much darker ground-colour of the forewings, by the more 

 or less strongly red scaling exhibited by the distinctly paler lateral and median 

 border of the basal spot of the forewings. and, lastly, by the dazzling white 

 streaks on the side of the head, on the upper part ol the terminal joint of the 

 palpi, and at the base of the palpi. In T. vespertilio these parts are pale grey 

 not clear while. 



The whole of Mory's facts arc quoted above. From them he con- 

 cludes that //. hybr. lippei represents a hybrid of the third degree with 

 parentage J eugeni X ? vespertilio. There is, in our opinion, grave 



Assumed parentage, £ eugeni X ? vespertilio. 



