The range of this insect extends through Europe and Asia to
Siberia and Amurland. It is represented in North America by the Galium Sphinx (Celerio intermedia, Kirby = chamænerii, Harris), which so greatly resembles it that only an expert could readily distinguish one from the other.
The Striped Hawk (Phryxus (Deilephila) livornica).
Owing to some confusion between this moth (Plate [15], Fig. 3) and the North American Striped Morning Sphinx (D. lineata), which also seems to have had a place in the cabinets of the earlier British entomologists, the localities given by authors previous to 1828 are doubtful. Haworth, however, in 1803, mentions Cornwall, and Stephens, in his remarks on this species, refers to a specimen from Norfolk; one taken off the mast of the Ramsgate steam vessel at Billingsgate, in June, 1824; and three specimens, one of which he figured, captured near Kingsbridge, Devonshire.
In 1846 thirteen of these moths were recorded from various parts of England and Ireland, and probably many others were in these islands that year. Between May 12 and 26, 1860, twenty specimens were taken in the south of England, and more than half of them in Devonshire. In 1862 a specimen occurred at Worthing on April 16, and one at Herne Hill on April 29; others were taken between May 2 and May 18 on the south and south-west coasts, and at Colchester. Over a score of specimens were recorded in 1868, chiefly in August, and from localities ranging from Cornwall to Yorkshire. The year 1870 was a good one for the species, and moths were reported from England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. Fully fifty specimens were obtained, mostly in May, and caterpillars were also found. In 1904 the moth occurred in May, at several places in the south and south-west of England, also in Gloucestershire, Wales, and at Carlisle; in September of this year a specimen was taken on the pier at Dover, and another on a small
headland at Barry, in Glamorgan. Some of the early captured females deposited eggs; caterpillars resulting therefrom were fed on vine, and at least one moth was reared in September.
A good many specimens visited the south of England, more particularly South Devon, in June, 1906, but the species was reported as occurring in large numbers on rhododendron blossom near Cork in Ireland from June 9 to 13 or 14. In August and September the moth was reported from Kent, Sussex, Hants, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, and South Wales; such specimens probably being the offspring of the early immigrants. During the past forty years the barren seasons for the Striped Hawk appear to have been only ten. The dates of its occurrence have been somewhat erratic. One was captured in 1887 in the month of February, one on March 27 in 1903, but the moth has been observed in each month from May to September inclusive, although May, June, and August would seem to have been the more favoured. The caterpillar has not been seen often in England. Mr. Farn recorded six or seven from Ryde in July, 1870; they were feeding on vine and centaury in a garden. One spun up in the leaves at the bottom of the box on July 27, but the web was so fragile that the caterpillar fell out, and changed to the chrysalis state on the 30th. The moth emerged on August 26. In the same year several caterpillars occurred in Devon and Cornwall, and one of these was found on July 11 in a mangold-wurtzel field in the Exeter district. It was afterwards reared on fuchsia, and produced a moth on August 18. Nine others were reported from a nursery garden at Plymouth; they were fed up on dock—the plant upon which they had been found—and the moth was reared later in the year. In 1902 Mr. Jäger received a caterpillar from Starcross about July 20, and this attained the moth state on September 27. A caterpillar, believed to be of this species, was found in a sunny garden at Lewes in Sussex, July 20, 1906.
According to Hellins the eggs are light green in colour, and the caterpillars hatch out in about three weeks. When it first emerges from the egg-shell the caterpillar is dirty white without spots, and the head and horn are black. The adult is dark green or black dotted with yellow; three yellow lines on the back and two rows of black-ringed yellow spots, with some black spots above them; each yellow spot is tinged with pink on the upper portion. Head black, marked with yellow; horn reddish, with the tip black. Sometimes the rings of the body are banded.
It feeds in June and July on vine, fuchsia, dock, and probably other plants. It may be noted that the foliage of house vines are stated to be unsuitable food. The blossoms of numerous plants are visited by the moths in the evening, among which are delphinium, petunia, honeysuckle, tobacco, rhododendron, valerian, and silene.