EUMORPHINiE. 55 



This concludes the information we have been able to collect 

 relating to hybidity among the Eumorphids. A few words relating 

 to the distribution of the Eumorphids alone has to be added to this 

 section. The powerful flight oftheSphingids is one of the most important 

 factors in their distribution. Humboldt says that he saw Sphingids 

 flying in the Andes 19800ft. above the sea. The South African species, 

 Daphnis capensis, was taken 472 miles from land, the nearest point 

 being Gibraltar, quite out of the normal range of the species (Proc. 

 Sth. Lond. Ent. Soc, 1891, p. 137). Fletcher found two Phryxus 

 livornica on board ship one morning, in the Mediterranean, when 

 about 100 miles from Greece, and when all the lights had been out the 

 whole of the previous evening for manoeuvring purposes (Ent., xxxiv., 

 p. 233). Manger has examples of P. livornica and Hippotion 

 celerio, taken by Captain Walker, on board ship, in the Red Sea. 

 Manduca atropos, Daphnis nerii, and other species have been seen and 

 captured far out at sea. Many other similar cases are recorded in 

 our accounts of the various species. It would appear, from the 

 circumstantial evidence at disposal, that many Sphingid (and other) 

 species that abound in the warmer temperate and subtropical regions 

 are continually attempting to spread their range into the cooler 

 temperate regions, and are ruthlessly exterminated by climate and 

 other causes. Some of the immigrants reach our latitudes, and we 

 thus have, in Britain, two groups of Eumorphid species with very 

 different habits, viz. (1) Sedentary species — Eumorpha elpenor, Theretra 

 porcellus. (2) Immigrants — Hippotion celerio, Phryxus livornica, 

 Celerio gallii, Daphnis nerii, and probably Hyles euphorbiae. The 

 present range of the last-named species on the western and north- 

 western coasts of France, coupled with its reported occurrence 

 abundantly in Devon some 80 — 90 years ago, and more recently 

 in Cornwall, leaves us in doubt whether other than climatic causes 

 have not combined to eliminate this insect as a sedentary species 

 from our islands. At any rate, we offer, under the detailed account 

 of this insect, sufficient evidence to show that it is now an occasional 

 immigrant in districts where it could not very well ever have been 

 sedentary. An interesting article, dealing with the questions of the 

 immigration of Daphnis nerii, Hippotion celerio, Agrius con- 

 volvuli and Manduca atropos, much too long even to condense here, 

 and in which the author takes a view somewhat opposed to ours, was 

 published by Gaschet (Ann. de la Soc. Entom. de France, ser. 5, vol. vi., 

 pp.509 — 521). Meyrick notes (Handbook, &c, p. 294) the subfamily as 

 large and nearly cosmopolitan, but dwelling especially in warm regions, 

 the imagines flying at dusk and feeding on the wing, whilst he 

 adds that most of the species occurring in Britain are probably 

 only occasional immigrants, which, under favourable circumstances, 

 breed here and establish themselves for a year or two. Bartel 

 observes (Palaeark. Gross-Schmett., ii., p. 54) that the Deilephila 

 group (Phryxids) is relatively poorer in species than the Choerocampa- 

 group (Eumorphids sens, strict.). Their representatives occur both in 

 the eastern and western hemispheres. In Europe, the species ot 

 the first group are proportionally very well represented. The numerous 

 species of the Choe rocampa-gr oup are distributed over the whole 

 world, but especially in the tropics. The extremely powerful un- 

 tiring flight, which is peculiar to most species of this group, 



