160 



[December, 



Sp. 3. NiORiCEps, Thorns., ibid., p. 302. 



Besides several more not yet ascertained. 



** Mesothorax with an almost invisible dorsal line j scutellum 

 not margined. 



Gen. Aphanogmus, Thorns., Ofv., 1S58, p. 305. 



Sp. 1. HTALrcriPENNis, Thoms., ibid. 

 Sp. 2. TENUicoENis, Thoms., ibid. 



There are more British species of this genus not yet ascertained. 

 They are the minutest of the group, averaging less than half-a-line in 

 length. 



College, Milford Haven : September, 1868. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE OCCURRENCE OF SPHINX CONVOLVULI IN 

 GREAT BRITAIN. 



BY THE EEV. JOHN HELLINS, M.A. 



My friend, Mr. D'Orville, having seen and captured in his garden 

 an unusual uumber of s])ecimens of this fine moth during the past 

 autumn, has endeavoured to make some observations which may tend to 

 throw some light on its appearance in this country ; and he has kindly 

 placed his notes in my hands for publication. 



Between August 15th and September 28th of this year, he cap- 

 tured 27 males and 29 females, and 2 more were brought into his house 

 by the cat ; but a very large proportion of the total number were en- 

 tirely unfit, from their battered state, to be preserved as cabinet 

 specimens. 



But this is to be remarked, that the good and the battered speci- 

 mens of both sexes occurred together throughout the whole period ; it 

 was by no means the case that the first taken were the finest, and 

 the last the worst. 



The first moth was taken on August 15th, a female, with its abdo- 

 men so flat, that Mr. D'Orville concluded it had deposited all its eggs. 

 A few days later, on capturing a battered female with abdomen equally ij 

 flat, he dissected it, and found in it 220 well-formed eggs, thus proving 

 his first conclusion to have been too hasty. On the 21st August, he 

 dissected another female, and found its ova to be quite undeveloped, \ 

 mere small green gelatinous spots. On September 8th, he tried a fur- 

 ther experiment ; he shut up a damaged female in a large box, supplying 

 her with diluted honey and sugar for food ; on the fourth day after he 

 found her dead, but he found also that she had laid eight eggs in the j 

 box ; and when he proceeded to open her body, he found not one 



