554 
NEPHELE; GURELCA; SPHINGONAEPIOPSIS. By Dr. A. Seitz. 
sculpia. C. sculpta Fldr. (63 e). Smaller, more slender than ardeniae, and the abdomen not so pointed. On the 
forewing the white border-stripe is not so distinct, particularly darkened at the costal margin, and its sub- 
terminal branch is deeply sinuate and more remote from the margin. Hindwing with "a golden yellow basal 
and anal-marginal portion. Siam, rare; also in other parts of South Indo-China. 
55. Genus: JJfephele Hbn. 
Most of the species of this genus numbering about 30 forms are exclusively Ethiopian and therefore 
described in Vol. XIV, p. 372— 73. In the Indian region only 4 forms occur, which are easily discernible by 
their white spot on the forewing. The Nephele strongly recall the large Macroglossum of the faro and passalus 
group, and some have also been noticed sucking by day in the sunshine. — The adult larvae are generally 
green or brown, in front thinner, on the metathorax thickened, with a strong horn. 
didyma. N. didynia F. (= morpheus (Jr., quaterna Charp.) (63 d). Deep earth-brown with alternately lighter 
and darker transverse bands of the forewing. Marginal area greyish-brown, proximad irregularly defined. Cen- 
Uespera. tral dot silvery white, irregularly comma-shaped. — In ab. hespera F. (= chiron Cr., peneus WJcr., obliterans 
Wkr.) the central silvery spot is reduced to a small dot or entirely absent. — North India to Ceylon. Malacca 
and Java, in some places very common. 
subvaria. N. subvaria Wkr. (= antipoda Wkr.) (63 d) is at once discernible from the preceding ones by the cinna¬ 
mon-brown hindwing. The under surface of both wings is also tinted rusty yellow save the costal parts of the 
wings. Here the typical form likewise shows a central silvery spot in the forewing, which is absent in ab. 
metapyrrha. metapyrrha Wkr. (= dal i i Newm.). Eastern Australia; not rare. 
56. Genus: CSurelca Ky. 
Of the three species known of this genus which was described in Vol. II, p. 254, one ( masuriensis Btlr.) 
is chiefly palaearctic, the other ( hyas Wkr.) however predominantly Indo-Australian, though it traverses the 
southern frontier of the palaearctic region to the north. The lepidbptera are at once discernible by the orange 
hindwings and the angular forewings, as well as by their small size. 
hyas. G. hyas Wkr. (= geometrician Mr., macroglossoides Wkr.) (64 d and Vol. II, pi. 40 g). Body and fore¬ 
wing dark brown, with irregular lighter markings, the orange hindwings uniformly margined with blackish- 
brown. For further particulars see Vol. II, p. 251. Larva very similar to that of Macroglossum stellatarum, 
green or also brown with a dark subdorsal line which is bordered with whitish, and a straight dark horn. In 
the brown specimens the dorsum between the two longitudinal lines is darker brown than the sides and the ven- 
trum. Below this line there are usually distinct oblique stripes. In sunny places on the Rubiacea Paederia 
tomentosa; from Cashmir, the Himalaya, the Yangtsekiang Valley through India to the south as far as South 
conspicua. India and Java, to the east as far as Formosa and the Philippines. - conspicua Mell, from South China, on 
the whole shows brighter colours than the Indian form, and the ground of the hindwings is more fiery golden 
yellow; from Kwang-Tung. The imagines preferably fly in the dawn, sometimes also in daytime in the sunshine. 
According to Mell, they are found in numbers on blossoms (Cucurbitaceae, Asclepiadeae, Labiatae etc.), but also 
on the wet ground; in Kwang-Tung I often saw them sucking from burst fruits that had dropped from trees. 
The species seems to be common in the whole range. 
masurien- G. masuriensis Btlr. (= erebina Btlr., himachala Btlr.). From the figured form sangaica Btlr. (Vol. II, 
sis. p] 4o g) the Indian form is separated by its darker total colouring and a still broader blackish-brown margin 
..angaiea. ^ the hindwing. Larva brown, similar to the brown larvae of hyas, but mostly darker, the longitudinal 
stripes more distinct, the lateral oblique stripes more distinct, and the horn of the tail longer and thinner. 
Like the preceding species on Paederia tomentosa. — masuriensis is distributed from Cashmir and the Hima¬ 
laya to the south as far as Burmah, sangaica to the north across South China to Korea and Japan; the South- 
Chinese specimens are somewhat like the masuriensis, but still more similar to the sangaica. — purpureosignata 
Gloss, with purple red on the palpi, head and collar has been described from Japan; it has not yet been as¬ 
certained that this colouring occurs also in Indian specimens. 
montana. G. ill on tan a -ford. (= saturata Mell) differs from the two others in the more notched margin of the fore¬ 
wing. Body and forewing above more ash-grey, without the red-brown shadows and patches of the other species. 
The marginal band of the hindwing as is sangaica posteriorly narrower, but less distinctly defined. Yunnan, at 
great altitudes (2000—2400 m), on grassy places, taken when drinking from Labiatae. 
57. Genus: Splilngoiisicpiopsis Wllgr. 
This genus being very closely allied to the preceding genus has been characterized in detail in Vol. II. 
p. 251—52 and also dealt with in Vol. XIV, p. 377. It is chiefly palaearctic and Ethiopian, and but one species 
occurs in the Indo-Australian region. It contains the smallest Sphingidae known; for instance, nana and gorgon 
