







42 VU—THE 
Genus 2.—DEILEPHILA, Ochs. 
Tongue strongly developed. Antennae less than 4, gradually 
thickened to near apex, then pointed, apex slender, hooked. 
Abdomen smooth, broad, conical, pointed. Tibiae with appressed 
scales. 
A large nearly cosmopolitan genus, chiefly in warm 
regions, represented in New Zealand by one very wide- 
ranging species. 
DEILEPHILA CELERIO. 
(Chaerocampa celerio, L., Syst. Nat. 1, 491; Huds. Trans. N.Z. 
Inst., xxxvii., 359.) 
(Plate VI., fig. 15.) 
This very handsome insect was first observed in Nelsen 
by the late Mr. R. I. Kingsley, in December, 1903, and 
other specimens were secured by Messrs. Whitwell, Mules 
and Gibbs a few weeks later. In March, 1904, it was taken 
by Mr. Creagh O’Connor at Titahi Bay, on the northern 
shore of Cook Strait, and a specimen was bred from a 
larva found by the Rey. A. Doull at Otahuhu, near Auck- 
land, in the same year. Another was taken at Te Tua, near 
Orepuki, Southland, in April, 1917,* and a further example 
captured by Mrs. F. Toogood, near the sea coast, between 
Featherston and Masterton, in February, 1925. The insect 
is therefore evidently very irregular in its appearance. 
SPHINGIDAE. 
The expansion of the wings is about 3 inches. The fore- 
wings, which are very narrow, are deep brownish-ochreous, with 
short black and silvery longitudinal lines; there is a shining 
silvery streak, divided by two fine brownish lines, running from 
the base of the dorsum to the apex and a fine silvery streak 
parallel to the termen; a little below the middle of the costa 
there is a blackish dot in a pale spot. The hind-wings are rose- 
colour with the termen and a central band broadly black; the 
intermediate pale rosy band is also divided by black veins. 
There appears to be considerable variation in size, and 
in the depth and intensity of the ground colour and mark- 
The larva, which feeds on the vine (Vitis vinifera), 
yellow bedstraw (Galiwn verum), fuchsia and virginia- 
creeper (Ampelopsis), is stated to be green or brown, with 
black eye-like markings on the fifth and sixth segments, 
with white pupils enclosed in slender yellow rings; the 
horn is slender, long and straight.* 
ings. 
The perfect insect appears from December till Marea, 
and should be looked for in cultivated districts. At 
present it seems to be only a casual visitor from Australia, 
but may, perhaps, ultimately become permanently estab- 
lished in New Zealand. In Britain it oceurs very rarely 
south of the Caledonian Canal, and in the north of Ireland, 
but only as an occasional immigrant. It is a very widely 
distributed species, ranging through West, Central and 
Southern Europe, South Asia, Africa and Austvalia. 

* Trans. N.Z. Tnst., hbk 43. 
* Kirby, European Butterflies and Moths, 72. 
