402 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



those who unite the three insects have examined them in the 

 same critical manner as have Rothschild and Jordan. We append the 

 original descriptions of styx and medusa, which read as follows : 



(1) Styx, Westd., "Cab. Orient. Ent.," p. 88, pi. xlii., fig. 3 (1848).— 

 Sphinx (Acherontia) styx. Sphinx alis anticis fuscis, plumbeo irroratis nigroque 

 variegatis et undatis, apiceque luteo ct ferrugineo magis variis, stigmato parvo 

 luteo, undulis albidis pone medium ad costam magis « conspicuis ; alis posticis 

 fulvis, fasciis duabus nigricantibus ; prima, angusta mediana ; secunda, utrinque 

 dentata submarginali ; corpore fusco, thorace supra lateribus plumbeis utrinque 

 strigis duabus nigris ; figura dorsali faciei colons fusci fere uniformis, oculis parvis 

 nigris, postice lunula nigra (striam curvatam plumbeam includente) cincta ; 

 abdomine fulvo ; segmento singulo macula parva quadrata plumbea dorsali in- 

 cisurisque fuscis ; [abdomen subtus fulvo, punctis duobus mediis parvis rotundis 

 nigris (nee nigris lasciatis ut in S. atropos) ;]* pedibus angustis luteo annulatis. 

 Exp. forewings 4fins. East Indies. From Col. Hearsey. This species is most 

 nearly allied to Sphinx atropos, but differs from it in its smaller size, in the 

 uniform colour of the face-like marking on the back of the thorax, and in the 

 slenderness of the limbs (Westwood). The larva is very pale green, or bright 

 golden-yellow, irrorated with black dots, with lilac-bordered oblique white streaks. 

 It has also a dark brown form. It feeds on Paulownia imperialis. North India 

 /James), Turkey in Asia (Loftus) [Westwood]. 



(2) Medusa, Butler, "Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond.," ix., pp. 597-598 

 (1877). — Altogether darker than the preceding (styx), and running to 

 a larger size ; primaries above without or with very indistinct longitudinal 

 reddish streaks ; subapical paler area less oblique, the intersecting 

 transverse lines less strongly dentated ; secondaries with black bands, as 

 a rule, closer together, better defined, the inner one generally extending to 

 third subcostal branch ; body above darker, the skull -marking on thorax much 

 darker, and consequently rather less conspicuous ; head blacker ; abdomen with 

 the dorsal blue bar darker, the transverse bands blacker ; primaries below the 

 oivter border much more dusky ; secondaries with the outer band more dusky. 

 Expanse of wings, 3m. 5 lines to 4m. 10 lines (A. styx measures 3m. 2lines to 

 4m. 5 lines). Java (Horsfield), Hong Kong (Bowring) ; Shanghai, China, East 

 India, Philippines (Bowring). I have received examples of this species from Mr. Lewis. 

 The smaller form of it was bred by him in Japan, and as he has had the trans- 

 formations carefully drawn by a native artist, I am now enabled to figure them 

 proving the entire distinctness of this species from A. atropos. He believes that 

 the larger examples may be referable to a distinct species, the small Japanese 

 examples being constant in size and in the absence of the ventral black spots 

 upon the abdomen. The larva feeds on Sesamum orientate (Butler). 



Bartel says (Pal. Gross-Sch??iett., ii., p. 23) that striking 

 aberrations are rare. He observes that he has seen examples of 

 our ab. imperfecta in both sexes, and further notes that transitions 

 between this form and typical examples occur, some specimens 

 even having the inner band present on one side, but absent on 

 the other. He further remarks that Wiskott has an example, bred 

 in Berlin, of our ab. obsoleta, in which the characteristic thoracic 

 marking is completely wanting, only a small black spot being 

 present in the middle of the thorax. In the Kricheldorf collection 

 is an example in which the inner band of the hindwing is almost 

 entirely connected with the outer band by black scaling (evidently 

 a specimen of our ab. conjuncta) the black colour being even 

 more extended, and having a more striking appearance on the 

 underside of both wings, the outer half being entirely black-scaled. 

 Bartel adds : " European examples are, on an average, larger than 

 exotic. Rossler sees in this a confirmation of the well-known 



*The piece enclosed in square brackets [ ] is added in MS. in Westwood's 

 handwriting in his own copy of the work, now in the Natural History Museum 

 at South Kensington, 



