INSECTS 



HETEROCERA 



SPHINGIDAE 



SPHINGIDAE {continued) 



Smerinthus ocellatus, Linn. Plymouth ; Topsham ; 

 Sidmouth ; Dartmoor ; Barnstaple 



— populi, Linn. Exeter ; Stoke ; Plymouth ; Sid- 



mouth; Dartmoor; Barnstaple; Morthoe. 

 About poplars, not very common 

 § — tiliae, Linn. Exeter ; Starcross ; Plymouth ; 

 Ashburton ; Spitchwick. About elms 

 Acherontia atropus, Linn. (Death's Head). In 

 some seasons the larva is found in potato 

 fields in all parts of the county 

 Sphinx convolvuli, Linn. Quite uncertain, yet 

 seen or taken in some part of the county 

 almost every year ; in some favoured years, 

 such as 1859, 1868, 1887, 1900, andlQOl, 

 occurs all over the county, sometimes in 

 numbers, yet most frequently on the north 

 and south coasts. There is little doubt that 

 the vast majority seen are immigrants from 

 the Continent, but in 1901 the larva was 

 frequently found, and numbers of genuine 

 native specimens must have occurred 



— pinastri, Linn. The capture of a single 



specimen in a garden nr. Plympton, September, 

 1 86 1, is recorded in the Entomologist for 1872 



— lingustri, Linn. Has been found here to feed 



upon holly, laurustinus, ash, guelder-rose, 

 both wild and cultivated, as well as on its 

 ordinary foods — privet and lilac 

 Deilephila euphorbiae, Linn. In the Jurelian, by 

 Moses Harris, is the following : — ' Mr. 

 Raddon, the celebrated engraver, detected 

 this species in considerable numbers, on 

 Euphorbia paralias, growing in great abund- 

 ance on the extensive sandhills at Appledore 

 and Braunton Burrows nr. Barnstaple. See 

 for further details the Entomological Magazine, 

 No. 9, in illustration of two beautiful plates 

 figuring the entire history of the insect by 

 Mr. Raddon himself In the following 

 number of the same work Mr. Raddon has 

 supplied some additional particulars showing 

 its occasional rarity or abundance ; thus in 

 1 8 14 he would not capture any of the cater- 

 pillars which were not full-fed, and after one 

 day's pursuits, having forgotten to take any 

 food for his caterpillars, and it being nearly 

 dark, he cut an armfiil of the spurge and at 

 night put it into water ; next night he found 

 this food covered with, he thinks, not less 

 than a hundred minute larvae not above a 

 day or two old. Since that period the sur- 

 face of the valley in which the insects were 

 found has been completely altered by the 

 action of the winds, and the insect has been 

 almost exterminated.' Apparently it became 

 quite so, for although the most frequent and 

 thorough search has been made in many 

 subsequent years, during the greater part of a 

 century, in the same locality, no further 

 capture of this fine moth has, in any stage, 

 there been made 



\ galii, SchifF. On the coast ; recorded from 



Plymouth; Devonport; Kingsbridge ; Starcross; 

 Alphington ; Exeter, and Ilfracombe. Usually 

 singly 



tDeilephila livornica, Esp. Recorded from Plymouth 

 and Mount Edgecumbe ; Horrabridge; Plympton; 

 Kingsbridge; Starcross; Sheldon; Torquay; 

 Dartmouth ; Exeter, and Tiverton. At Star- 

 cross the larva has been found and recorded 

 by Mr. Jaeger 



tChaerocampa celerio, Linn. One recorded at 

 Exeter in 1871 ; one at Tei^mouth in 1865 ; 

 one at Plymouth about the same time ; another 

 at the same place ; and one at Ilfracombe in 

 1885 



§ — porcellus, Linn. Plymouth ; Dartmoor ; Horra- 

 bridge ; Westward Ho 



— elpenor, Linn. More frequent, and found in 



almost all parts of the county 



t — nerii, Linn. There is an old record that 

 Mr. Raddon took a specimen near Barnstaple 

 more than a century ago ; one was taken at 

 7>^g»/«««//5 by Capt. Blomer in 1832; one at 

 Stoke Henning, nr. Dartmouth, by Master Owen 

 in 1892 ; and a second at Teignmouth in 

 1900 



•Macroglossa stellatarum, Linn. (Humming-bird). 

 Gen. dis., and in some years common. 

 Usually seen hovering at flowers 



\ — fuciformis, Linn. (Broad-bordered Bee Hawk). 

 Budleigh Vale ; Stoke ; Fordlands ; Torquay 



§ — bombyliformis, Esp. (Narrow-bordered Bee 

 Hawk). Barnstaple; Woodbury; Plymouth 



SESIIDAE 



Sesia tipuliformis, Linn. Exeter ; Plymouth ; Barn- 

 staple. In gardens about currant trees 



— cynipiformis, Esp. Devonport; Radford Wood 



nr. Plymouth ; Stoke ; Topsham. On oak and 

 elm trunks 



— myopaeformis, Bkh. Exeter; Plymouth; Barn- 



staple. Among apple trees 



— formiciformis, Esp. Recorded only from Stoke 



— ichneumoniformis, SchifF. Plymouth; Bickleigh 



Vale; Stoke; Teignmouth. Mr. Parfitt says 

 on all grassy slopes near the sea on the south 

 coast, and also on the north to Lynton. It 

 feeds on bird's-foot trefoil 



— philanthiformis, Linn. Torquay, where it was 



first taken in England in 1870 ; Salcombe ; 

 Lynton ; Plymouth. Generally on rocky coasts 

 among thrift 



— chrysidiformis, Esp. Dr. LongstafF states that 



he saw a specimen on the clif& at Woolacombe, 

 7 September, 1888 

 Sphaecia bembeciformis, Hb. Exeter; Plymouth; 

 Plympton ; Teignmouth ; Sidmouth ; Barn- 

 staple. Among sallows and poplars 

 X — apiformis, Linn. Bickleigh Vale; Barnstaple. 

 Among poplars 



ZYGAENIDAE 



Procris statices, Linn. Exeter district ; South- 

 down, Plymouth ; Musbury ; Axminster ; 

 Berry Pomeroy ; Nezoton. Rather scarce in 

 this county 



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