HIPPOTIONIDI. 115 



and the separation of this from the Hippotionidi must still 

 be made rather on pupal and imaginal than on larval grounds. 

 Bacot's general remarks on these groups are very pregnant. He 

 says : " Groups 2a and 2b are thus marked because it is not at 

 all clear whether the two do not form merely more generalised and 

 more specialised branches of the same tribe, lucasi appears to be 

 a primitive member of 2a. In group 4a, Fiorina japo?iica gives 

 considerable trouble. Piepers figures the young larva with ocellated 

 spots from the metathorax to the 8th abdominal which would, 

 perhaps, throw it into a different group. In this group also Isoples 

 alec to appears to be the nearest to Eumorpha (elpenor), and the 

 shape and character of its ocellated spots, although falling between 

 those of E. elpenor and Hippotion celerio, approach more nearly to those 

 of the former. In the latter, the ocellated spots are oval with the 

 long axes vertical (all the figures examined agree in this) ; in /. alecto 

 and E. elpenor the oval is not regular, flattened below, at least the 

 central area, and the long axis is horizontal * ; in H. celerio, again, a 

 pale ring encloses a regular dark blue or purple oval with white 

 specks on it ; in I. alecto the dark blue centre has no white specks, 

 and the dark (almost black) centre is irregular, curved at the top, 

 flattened at bottom, illustrating how an elpenor-spot might enlarge 

 into a celerio-Mke spot, not, of course, that I think that the spots of 

 celerio are on the line of evolution of those of elpenor, but either might be 

 evolved from a form near that of alecto. The larva of H. celerio appears 

 to be near to those of E. elpenor and T. porcellus, possibly because it 

 shows no repetition of the ocellated spot on the other abdominal seg- 

 ments, but the character of the spot differs far more from these than 

 does that of I. alecto, and, further, the larva differs also from those 

 of groups 4a and 3 by reason of the strong and well-marked subdorsal 

 band f. The value of the groups marked is evidently unequal, e.g., 

 3, 4a and 4b might probably, on larval characters, be thrown into a 

 single tribe, although the resemblances may be due rather to con- 

 vergence than really close relationship." 



The pupal characters have already been dealt with (anted, pp. 43, 

 59). The texture is delicate ; colour pale terra-cotta with black patches 

 and dots ; wings with wrinkled sculpture ; labrum dorsal, with keel 

 round front sometimes produced into a horn arising anteriorly (and not 

 ventrally as in Sphinx) ; anal spike various ; portion of first femur 

 exposed ; special prespiracular sculpturing on 5, 6, 7 hardly present. 

 Little or no flattening, last segment tapering. General sculpturing 

 consists of transverse wrinkling, which has nearly overcome pitting, 

 even on the last segment. It will be observed that it is mainly on the 

 high specialisation of the pupa and imago that the tribe is founded. 

 On these characters, the Phryxid tribe is nearer to the Hippotionid 



* The odd shape of the ocellated spots in Eumorpha elpenor and Theretra 

 porcellus shows a very long evolution, and one suspects a special one. This irregular 

 form does not appear to occur in the Hippotionids and it follows that Hippotionids 

 could not be derived from Eumorpha (Chapman). 



t The figures examined differ considerably in general appearance, chiefly on 

 account of the prominence ( or want of it) given to the subdorsal bands and to certain 

 features of the ocellated spots (compare the figures of Buckler, Hofmann, Kirby, 

 &c). Some of the figures give the larva a much more elpenor-like facies than 

 others (Bacot). 



