ME. A. Q. BUTLER ON THE SPHINGID^. 513 



notes on synonymy. In the volume for 1867 Mr. Grote gave a list of the Sphingidce of 

 Cuba; and, lastly, in 1873 he again appeared as the author of a "Catalogue of the 

 Sphingidce of North America," in the first volume of the ' Bulletin of the Buffalo Society 

 of Natural Sciences.' 



Dr. Boisduval's long expected work on the Sphingidce has recently appeared, bearing 

 date 1874 ; that it was not, however, procurable earlier than February 22nd, 1875, I 

 have evidence in a letter from the author, dated 18th of February. 1875, in which he 

 says "Le species des Sphingides, Sesiides et Castniides sera mis au vente Lundi prochain, 

 chez M. Roret, editeur, Rue Hautefeuille, a Paris." The entire work is full of errors ; 

 and scores of species are omitted ; but the author's worst fault is a too great appreci- 

 ation of his own MS. names, for which he does not scruple to sacrifice both genera and 

 species long described by other authors. The arrangement of the genera is most 

 unnatural ; and many of the species described as new are only individually distinct. 

 The new species described by M. Boisduval, excepting those which clash with my own, 

 will be added in an appendix ; the genera and species which are identical with new 

 forms described in the present paper will be substituted, in their proper places, for the 

 names which I had proposed to employ. 



It will be seen by the foregoing remarks that the only synonymic (and that not a sys- 

 tematic) list of the Sphingidce of the world is that published by Mr. Walker in 1856 ; 

 this has now necessarily become very incomplete, not only on account of the numerous 

 species subsequently described, but from our present much more perfect knowledge of 

 the limits and affinities of the genera, which renders a revision of the whole family an 

 absolute necessity. 



I have to thank Mr. F. Moore for lending me his fine collection of Asiatic Sphingidae, 

 enabling me to add considerably to our knowledge of the species of India, as also for 

 lending me some exquisite drawings of larva? and pupae by native Indian artists. I am 

 also greatly indebted to Mr. G. Lewis for the loan of his valuable drawings of Japanese 

 Sphingidce in all stages, and for the residuum of his collection of these moths ; also to 

 Mr. W. F. Kirby for calling my attention to descriptions of species by Mr. Newman, to 

 species described by Palisot de Beauvais, Van der Hoeven and Bertoloni, and to several 

 species described during the last year or two, which I might otherwise have overlooked. 



The following rough Table will give some idea of the geographical range of the vari- 

 ous subfamilies and genera. 



Subfamily 1. MACROGLOSSiNiE. (Cosmopolitan.) 



Number of 

 Genus. Rango. Species. 



1. Lcpisesia Confined to British North America 2 



2. Satasjtes Silhet to China 4 



3. Hemaris Ranges from Texas, through Europe, Asia, and Afriea 26 



3z2 



