[93] Fig. 62, [Pl. VII]., is copied from Boisduval.
[94] The fading of the red anteriorly has not been represented in the figure.
[95] [The caterpillar of Deilephila Euphorbiarum, figured by Burmeister (Lép. Rép. Arg., Pl. XVI, Fig. 1) belongs to this stage. R.M.]
[96] [In concluding this account of the Chærocampinæ I may call attention to the following species, which have since been figured by Burmeister:—Pachylia Ficus, Linn. (loc. cit. Pl. XIV., Figs. 1 and 2); during the three first stages the larva is uniformly green, with a yellow subdorsal line, and below this ten oblique yellow stripes slanting away from the head; after the third moult the colour completely changes, the whole area of the body being divided into two distinct portions by the subdorsal line, above which the colour is red, and underneath of a pale green; the oblique stripes have almost disappeared; no occelli nor annuli are present. Pachylia Syces, Hübn. (loc. cit. Fig. 3); very similar to the last species in its young stages (figured also by Mérian, Surin. pl. 33). Philampelus Vitis, Linn. (loc. cit. Figs. 4 and 5); two stages represented; between first and second moults green, with oblique paler stripes slanting in same direction as in Pachylia, and each one containing a red streak surrounding the spiracle. When adult, the ground-colour is yellow above and green beneath, the whole surface being mottled with deep black and red transverse markings; the oblique stripes whitish, bordered with black at their lower extremities (figured also by Mérian, pls. 9 and 39). Philampelus Anchemolus, Cram. (loc. cit. Pl. XV., Fig. 1; Mérian, pl. 47); green when young, with seven oblique red stripes; when adult, uniformly brown, with seven pale yellow lateral markings, the first four of which are spots, and the remainder broad oblique stripes slanting forwards. Philampelus Labruscæ, (see note [82], p. [195]). R.M.]
[97] [Mimas Tiliæ of Butler’s revision. The author states that this genus is “easily distinguished from Laothoë by the form of the wings, the outer margin of secondaries deeply excavated below the apex, and the secondaries narrow and not denticulated.” Here again we have a clashing of the results arrived at by a study of the ontogeny of the larvæ, on the one hand, and the founding of genera on the characters of the imagines only, on the other. Of the three species discussed by Dr. Weismann, Mr. Butler, following other authors, refers Tiliæ to the genus Mimas, Populi to Laothoë, and Ocellatus to Smerinthus. It is to be hoped that when our knowledge of the developmental history of larvæ is more complete in all groups, a reconciliation between the results of the biological investigator and the pure systematist will be brought about, so that a genus may not, as at present, have such very different values when regarded from these two points of view. R.M.]
[98] The caterpillar is thus figured by Rösel.
[99] [In 1879 Mr. E. Boscher found about thirty full-grown caterpillars of this species in the neighbourhood of Twickenham, ten to twelve of which were feeding on Salix viminalis, and the remainder, from a locality not far distant, on Salix triandra. The whole of the specimens taken on the plant first named, had the red-brown spots above and below the oblique stripes more or less completely developed, as I myself had an opportunity of observing. In these spotted specimens the ground-colour was bright yellowish-green, and in the others this colour was dull whitish-green above, passing into bluish-green below. Should these observations receive wider confirmation, it would be fair to conclude that this species is now in two states of phyletic development, the more advanced stage being represented by the brighter spotted variety. (See also Proc. Ent. Soc. 1879, p. xliv.). Mr. Peter Cameron has recently suggested (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1880, p. 69) that the reddish-brown spots on the Smerinthus caterpillars may serve for purposes of disguise, as they closely resemble, both in colour and form, certain galls (Phytoptus) of the food-plants of these species. If this view be admitted, these spots must be considered as a new character, now being developed by natural selection. The variation in the ground-colour of the two forms of S. Ocellatus may possibly be phytophagic, but this can only be decisively settled by a series of carefully conducted experiments. R.M.]
[100] “Insekten-Belustigungen,” Suppl. Pl. 38, Fig. 40.
[101] “Catalogue of Lepidop.” British Museum. [Butler divides the subfamily Smerinthinæ into 17 genera, containing 79 species, viz. Metamimas, 2; Mimas, 4; Polyptychus, 7; Lophostethus, 1; Sphingonæpiopsis, 1; Langia, 2; Triptogon, 23; Laothoë, 2; Cressonia, 3; Paonias, 2; Calasymbolus, 5; Smerinthus, 5; Pseudosmerinthus, 2; Daphnusa, 4; Leucophlebia, 5; Basiana, 10; Cæquosa, 1. R.M.]
[102] “Cabinet Orient. Entom.,” p. 13, [Pl. VI]., Fig. 2. [Butler places this species doubtfully among the Sphinginæ. R.M.]