Although the occurrence of the moth in Britain has been more frequently recorded, probably in error for the Bedstraw Hawk, there are at least two that are undoubtedly authentic. One of these refers to a specimen taken in a private garden near Southampton (Entom., 1872), and the other was captured by the late Mr. C. G. Barrett as it flew at early dusk in a garden at King's Lynn, Norfolk, in September, 1887. Some idea of the scarcity of bonâ fide English specimens may be gained from the fact that about thirteen years ago, two of Raddon's bred specimens were sold by auction at Stevens, when six guineas was given for one, and ten shillings more for the other.
Its distribution abroad extends through Central and Southern Europe into Asia Minor, and it is represented by local races in other parts of Asia.
The Bedstraw Hawk (Deilephila (Celerio) galii).
On Plate [15], Fig. 2, will be found a portrait of this moth, which the ancient fathers of British entomology dubbed the "Spotted Elephant"—at least, Harris, in 1778, figured its caterpillar under this name. Later it was called the "Galium Hawk-moth." The olive-brown fore wings have a tapered, creamy-white stripe running obliquely from the inner margin near the base to the tip of the wing; the lower edge of this stripe is almost straight, but the upper edge is irregular; the outer margin of the wings is greyish. Hind wings creamy
white, the basal area and a band before the outer margin black; the space enclosed is blotched, and sometimes tinged with pinkish red; but the extreme inner portion is almost pure white. Head and thorax are olive-brown, edged with white; the abdomen is olive-brown, with a whitish line along the middle of the back, and ornamented with black and white on the sides.
The full-grown caterpillar varies in colour from greenish olive to pale olive-brown, reddish brown, or sometimes blackish; the spots on the back are yellowish, edged with black, but occasionally these are absent. It feeds in August and September, on the bedstraws (Galium verum, G. mollugo, etc.), preferring the yellow-flowered kind that flourishes on sandhills by the sea (G. verum, var. maritimum). It can be reared very well on willow herb (Epilobium) and on fuchsia.
When ready for the change it burrows underground, and, where the soil is sandy and light, it works down pretty deeply before making the frail cell, in which it turns to a reddish-brown chrysalis with blackish markings, somewhat similar to those of the next species; the anal spike is blackish, rather flattened, terminating in a sharp point (Plate [14], Figs. 1, 1a). Haworth in 1812 mentioned caterpillars from Devonshire, and although single specimens of the moth seem to have been taken here and there in various years between that date and 1854, in only one year during that period was it reported from several parts of the country. This was in 1834, when four moths were captured in August, and eight or nine others seen at Yarmouth; caterpillars were also found on the bedstraw growing on the Denes. Odd examples of the moth were observed that year in Lincolnshire, Somersetshire, and in the Isle of Wight. In 1855-56, caterpillars were obtained in August on the sandhills at Deal, and, in September, at Devonport in the first-named year. A moth was taken in May, 1857, and, later in that year, specimens were captured at Deal,
Brighton, and Taunton. Three moths were recorded in 1858; and in 1859 caterpillars were plentiful on the south-east coast, common on the Cheshire coast, also reported from Devon, Cambs., London, and Darlington; over a score were found within a short distance of Perth. A good many moths were also taken. The species was especially abundant in 1870, in which year caterpillars were collected in hundreds. It seems to have been widely distributed throughout England, and was again found in Perthshire. Perhaps not more than three specimens were taken between 1872 and 1888, but in the rainy and cold summer of the latter year, the moths seem to have invaded the country in great force, and were reported from many parts of England, and also from Aberdeen in Scotland, and from Howth in Ireland. Caterpillars, too, were plentiful on the coast sandhills of Kent, Cheshire, and Lancashire, and also in the Eastern Counties.
In March, 1889, Mr. Elisha had moths emerge from chrysalids of the previous year. These had been placed in a temperature ranging from 60 to 70 degrees, and the moths came out in from fourteen to sixteen days after commencing the forcing process. Some half a dozen chrysalids that I had in 1888, from Lancashire caterpillars, were allowed to remain in the earth, which was contained in a large-sized flower-pot; the moths emerged in May and June, 1889, all but one being perfect specimens.
In 1894 Mr. Harwood obtained five caterpillars on the Essex coast, and in 1897 the Rev. A. Miles Moss found a few, and observed traces of others, on the Lancashire coast, but, apart from these records, very few moths or caterpillars of this species appear to have been noted in the country since 1888, and we still await the advent of another Galii year. So far the periods of scarcity between the seasons of plenty have been twenty-five, eleven, and nineteen years.