564 
HIPPOTION. By Dr. A. Seitz. 
celerio. 
echeclus. 
raj fie si. 
bocrhaviac. 
brennus. 
johanna. 
funebris. 
varies enormously, as we see from the numerous synonyms. The silvery white streaks across the body and 
obliquely through the forewing may be very lustrous and, together with the pink tinge -covering the hindwing, 
produce a great resemblance to H. celerio, which the mostly dark greyish-brown insect does not exhibit otherwise 
(= rosea Rothsch.). The white bridles on the sides of the head and thorax may also be more distinct and the 
marking on the forewing above much more wood-like. The size may be less than that of echeclus (67 b), but 
also larger than that of the figured $. — Larva green or brown, marked like a snake, with a large, lustrous 
eye-spot on the 4th ring; from the 3rd ring to the horn which is long and pointed a very fine subdorsal stripe 
extends. It was found (in the Philippines) on Pisonia (Nyctagineae), but presumably it also lives on numerous 
other plants. - The species is distributed from North India, where it does not reach the palaearctic frontier 
any more, to Australia and often very common (the larva being often the most common Sphingid larva), and 
goes from Ceylon and the Andamans to the east across the Sunda and Moluccan Is., New Guinea and the 
Philippines as far as Christmas I.; its variability, however, has not led to geographically founded forms. 
H. celerio L. (= ocys Him., inquilinus Harr., albolineata Montr., inquinalis Swh.) (Vol. II, pi. 42 b). 
This lepidopteron having been described in Vol. II, p. 258 has a still much larger range than velox, for it pene¬ 
trates much farther to the north and south, frequently migrating - not only in hot years — beyond the frontiers 
of its range and appearing sometimes in very remote islands of the South Sea, where it disappears again for a 
long time. It forms nowhere local races that might be geographically founded. In the desert tiny, stunted 
forms may be sometimes found, but also normal specimens, and also in other districts there occur stunted 
specimens together with particularly large ones. A few' superfluous names of aberrations, such as pallida, 
brunnea, unicolor, augustei, have been established by Tittt and others; cf. Vol. II, p. 258. - The larva seems 
to occur tolerably constantly in the various faunal regions, at least the figures of Ethiopian, Indo-Australian, 
and palaearctic specimens show them green or (mostly) brown, with a blue, dark (not enamel) eye surrounded 
by yellow, and a light, dark-edged subdorsal stripe. On Araceae (Caladium, Philodendron), Rubiaceae, Vitis, 
and other plants. The imago swarms in the evening on various blossoms and is very common in many districts. 
H. echeclus Bsd. ( = elegans Btlr.) (67 b as echelus) is similar to celerio , but the abdominal dorsum lacks 
the silver stripes, the oblique stripe of the forewing is narrower, not curved, the hindwing all red except the 
margins. This is the Indian representative of the Ethiopian eson Cr. (Vol. XIV, pi. 67 a). The species is distri¬ 
buted from South India across the Sunda Is. to the Philippines. Not so common as the preceding ones. 
H. rafflesi Btlr. (= theylia Cr., vinacea Hntps.) (67 c) is very similar to echeclus, but smaller, in the 
forewing the oblique stripe is steeper and not so distinctly composed of 4 dark lines, but more massive, towards 
the inner margin distinctly widened and more shaded (in contrast with the following one). Hindwing uniformly 
red and uniformly margined with dark brown. Under surface mostly redder than in boerhaviae in which the 
hindwing above mostly neither shows the brownish-yellow nebulous spot which is almost invariably present 
in rafflesi. Larva extremely similar to that of celerio, but the fictitious eye of the 4th ring, which is more 
round in the latter, is transversely oval in rafflesi, compressed from above, like the analogous lateral spot on 
the 5th ring, which is very distinct and filled with red here, whereas in celerio it is mostly quite indistinct. On 
Balsamineae, especially Impatiens. From Ceylon and North India to the north as far as Southern China, to 
the south as far as Java and Celebes, in some places very common; Mell ascertained 12 specimens at the same 
time on a spot 6 square meters large, in South China. In Ceylon I sometimes found several specimens together 
on one arc-light. 
H. boerhaviae F. ( — L., thyelia Mr., eson Wkr. nec Cr., vampyrus F., octopunctata Gmel., rosetta 
Swh., rafflesi Hmps.) (67 c). Often very difficult to distinguish from rafflesi with which it is often confounded 
in the collections. The imago is generally somewhat paler and more unicoloured, the oblique line of the forewing 
is only indicated by its margins, not filled up, the abdomen neither shows the median stripe of rafflesi so 
distinctly; above all, the lateral stripe extending from the palpi along the thorax is not so lustrous white as in 
rafflesi. — Larva likewise similar; it seems that the lateral spots which are almost totally obliterated in the 
larvae of rafflesi, are preserved here on all the rings, not only on the 4th and 5th, but this may also sometimes 
occur with those of rafflesi. It lives on the Rubiacea Morinda umbellata. In many districts the imago flies 
together with rafflesi. From Ceylon and North India to China and the Salomons Is. Not so common as rafflesi, 
and at other habitats, which may be due to the difference of the food-plant. 
H. brennus Stoll (67 c) is similar to boerhaviae, the forewing decidedly darker, more profusely marked, 
and the bands transverse, without the long oblique streak from the apex. Abdomen laterally with silvery 
white, small dots arranged in short chains. — In typical brennus the thorax shows a white median stripe which 
is absent in the form Johanna Ky. (= maculiventris MisJc.). — funebris Gehlen, from the Kaiserin Augusta R. in 
New Guinea, lacks the white median streak on the thorax, as well as the red band on the hindwing. — Queens¬ 
land and New Guinea to the Moluccas and Salomons Is. In Australia not rare. 
