HIPPOTION CELERIO. 119 



two-fifths of the length of the spur in the $ , and is only 

 o*2mm. in width. This comb is very beautiful in many of these 

 Sphinges, in H. celerio it reminds one greatly of the row of teeth or 

 keys in a musical box. The palpi seem to be identical in the two 

 sexes (Chapman). 



Variation. — The species is distributed over almost the whole 

 of the Old World. The Teneriffe examples are somewhat smaller 

 than those from southern Europe, but identical in coloration (Christ). 

 Kaye writes (in lift.) : The variation appears to be sporadic, not 

 geographical ; the band varies in being more curved in some 

 examples than in others, and, also, in being sometimes darker and at 

 others lighter, but these variations do not seem to be restricted to 

 local forms ; occasionally, also, the pink of the hindwing encroaches 

 on the black patch towards the centre of the wing; in my Soutn 

 African examples, the short silvery streaks, particularly on the inner 

 edge of cell and on nervures 6 and 7, are much reduced or almost absent. 

 Mathew observes (in litt.) that specimens from the west coast of Africa, 

 from Britain, Madeira, and the Pacific Islands, show very little differ- 

 ence. Bartel states that examples from tropical countries are larger 

 and sometimes reach a wing-expanse of 82mm., and are strikingly 

 different from the European examples, both in colour and 

 markings. Walker notes the examples reared in Tahiti, as having 

 the oblique stripe on the forewings much more silvery than in any 

 examples observed in British collections. This Pacific form, which 

 appears to be the Linnean type, was redescribed by Montrouzier from 

 Kanola, New Caledonia, in the Ann. Soc. Linn. Lyon> n.s., xi., 

 p. 250 (1864) as : 



Deilephila albolineata. Kanola. Envergure de 5cm. 8mm. a 7cm. Les 

 ailes superieures sonl en-dessus d'un brun legerement olivatre, avec la majeure 

 partie de leurs nervures, et chacune 3 bandes, d'un blanc soyeux brillant, la ire bande 

 est la plus large et elle est un peu coudee et placed apres la moitie de la largeur 

 de l'aile ; les autres sont plus etroites, d'un blanc moins pur et moins brillant, 

 placees a la suite Tune de l'autre pres du bord posterieur; la 2me est la plus 

 mince. Les ailes inferieures sont d'un brun clair et rougeatre, avec une tache 

 rose a la base, avec le bord posterieur et une bande avant celui-ci d'un rose 

 pale, cette bande est composee de petites taches oblongues placees a la suite 

 l'une de l'autre. En-dessous les ailes sont roussatres, avec leur base brunatre, et 

 leur bord posterieur grisatre. Corps ayant la tete et le corselet d'un brun legerement 

 olivatre, et le reste rougeatre. On voit de chaque cote une bande d'un blanc soyeux 

 partant du bord anterieur de la tete et s'etendant sur le corselet jusqu'a la naissance 

 des ailes ; en-dedans de cette bande et de chaque cote existe sur le corselet 

 une petite ligne longitudinale doree, enfin sur le milieu du corselet une bande 

 blanche qui se continue jusqu'a l'extremite de l'abdomen. Chacun des anneaux 

 de celui-ci est marque posterieurement, de chaque cot£ de la bande blanche, de 

 deux petites taches lineaires de la meme couleur. 



Oberthiir writes (in litt.) that there is some slight variation in the 

 species ; the band which crosses the upper wings is sometimes more 

 or less silvery, at others brown like the ground-colour of the wings 

 (e.g., an example from Madagascar) ; the spots on the abdomen 

 also are more or less dark, and more or less strongly marked. The 

 rosy tint of the hindwings varies also in intensity. The chief variation 

 seen is in the ground-colour being pale terracotta (ab. pallida, n. ab.) or 

 a deep rich brown (ab. brunnea, n. ab.). Linne's type is that which has 

 the whitest band ; that form in which the band is only somewhat paler 

 than the ground-colour appears to be Linne's var. tisip/wne, described as : 

 Sphinx tisiphone. — Sphinx alis primoribus cinerascentibus vitta pallida ; 



