A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE SPHINGID^: (continued) Walter Rothschild) ; Bishop Start- ford (Taylor) ; Stevenage (Matthews); Cheshunt (Boyd) Though generally distributed throughout the county, this species is not by any means common. It sometimes comes to ' light.' Mr. Elli- man reports that the larvae have been taken feeding on galium by Mr. J. L. Foulkes on Pitstone Hill, but this is just outside the county boundary Deilephila elpenor, L. St. Albany larvae, and Welwyn, larvae (A. E. G.) ; Sand- ridge (Griffith) ; Hitchin (Durrant) ; Haileybury (Bowyer) ; Hertford (Stephens) ; Letchworth (Knapp, Entomologists' Weekly Intelligencer ; ii. I S5)i Watford (Heaton) ; Bushey Heath (Barraud) ; Tring (Le Quesne, Elliman) ; Marsworth reservoir and Tring station (A. T. Goodson) ; Stevenage (Matthews) ; Cheshunt (Boyd) This species is not of rare occur- rence in some localities. Mr. Boyd reports it to be common. Mr. Elli- man believes that the larvae occur every year in many of the old- established gardens in Tring, and Mr. Goodson has taken them at the stations indicated above. I have found them at St. Albans feeding on fuchsia, and at Colney Heath Mr. C. F. Pilbrow reports them to occur in considerable numbers feeding on water betony and other plants. At Watford,vrhere Impatiens fulva grows on the canal bank, that plant appears to furnish their favourite food nerii, L. A specimen of this moth was taken on the i3th October, 1876, by a working man at Hemel Hempstead, who took it alive to Dr. Pitts of the West Herts Infirmary. That gentle- man set it, and subsequently exhi- bited it at a conversazione at the Watford Public Library. It was a male, and with the exception of a bit which had been nipped out of one of its wings was in fine condition (vide Transactions of the Watford Na- tural History Society, i. 174, where a report of the occurrence is given by the late Mr. Clarence E. Fry). Mr. B. Piflard of Hemel Hempstead, re- cording the capture in the Entomolo- gists' Monthly Magazine (xiii. 138), says that it was taken in a garden in the Alma Road and at the time of SPHINGIDJE (continued) writing was in the collection of G. T. Porritt, Esq., of Leeds Deilephila lineata, F. (livornica, Esp.). Cheshunt Street (Boyd) Mr. Boyd informs me that the specimen was captured on August 25th, 1868 galii, Rott. Haileybury, ' once ' (Bow- yer) ; one at Cheshunt Street, August 1 2th, 1870 (Boyd) Sphinx ligustri, L. St. Albans, more numerous than usual in 1900 (A. E. G.) ; Sandridge (Griffith) ; Hitchin (Durrant, Matthews) ; Haileybury (Bowyer) ; Hertford (Stephens) ; Watford (Spencer, Wigg) ; Tring, larvae (Elliman) ; Hemel Hempstead (Wilson) ; Bishop Stortford (Taylor, Mellows) ; Roy- ston (A. H. Kingston) ; Cheshunt (Boyd) The last-named observer marks this species as ' scarce ' in his dis- trict, while Mr. Matthews reports it as being common in the larval state near Hitchin, where privet abounds. The Hon. L. Walter Rothschild showed me a nearly black variety which was bred from a larva taken at Hemel Hempstead in 1890 by Arthur Wilson convolvuli, L. St. Albans (A. E. G.) ; Watford (Cottam, Spencer) ; Hitchin (Lawford, Durrant) ; Sandridge (Griffith) ; Baldock (Durrant, Ento- mologist, xiv. 235) ; East Barnet (Gillum) .; Tring (Hon. L. Walter Rothschild) ; Stevenage (Matthews) ; Cheshunt Street, occasionally (Boyd) This is a species which is very irregular in its appearance. Mr. Cottam records the occurrence of eight specimens at Watford in 1875 ; several were captured in St. Albans in 1 877, and I again had S. convolvuli brought to me in 1 892. The Hon. L. Walter Rothschild informs me that five or six were taken at Tring in 1899 and one specimen a few years previously. At Stevenage Mr. Mat- thews can only hear of its being seen once Acherontia atripos, L. St. Albans, larvae (A. E. G.) ; Watford (J. H. James, Transactions of the Watford Natural History Society, i. 64) ; Hitchin (Dur- rant) ; Haileybury (Bowyer) ; Lilley (Rev. P. H. Jennings, Entomologist, ii. 325); Tring (Minall, Elliman, Hon. 144
