ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work would have been difficult to produce without the advice and guidance received from many people in many ways. I would like to express my thanks to the staff (past and present) of the Entomology Department of the Natural History Museum, London, for allowing me access to the superb National Collection. Certain members of staff deserve special mention for frequently going out of their way to help in the early days, in particular L. A. Mound (formerly Keeper of Entomology), the late A. H. Hayes, M. R. Honey, the late I. W. B. Nye, and A. Watson. To Ian J. Kitching, and the late W. G. (Gerry) Tremewan, whose expert knowledge and editorial assistance have been of value in verifying information and in preparing the text throughout many stages, I acknowledge deep indebtedness. Invaluable additional editorial assistance and constructive comments were also provided by the late Basil Harley and his wife Annette when they managed Harley Books, Colchester. Constructive editorial comments were also received from Willem Hogenes of Instituut voor Taxonomische Zoölogie, Amsterdam, and the late A. R. Waterston (formerly Keeper of Entomology, Royal Scottish Museum), who kindly read the initial drafts.

For their assistance, my special thanks go to Mrs Brenda Leonard, former librarian of the Royal Entomological Society of London, for putting up with me for so long as I rummaged through the endless rows of books in the Society's superb library; also to Ms Jacqueline Ruffle, the librarian who followed; to Miss Pam Gilbert, formerly Librarian of the Entomology Library, Natural History Museum, London; and to Ms Julie Harvey and Mrs Kathie Martin, also of that Library.

Thanks are also due to ZHANG Qiaoqiao (China) and Stephania Glowka (Poland) for their assistance in translating papers from Chinese and Russian, respectively. Also, to Prof. LI BaoPing (Xinjiang Agricultural University, Ürümqi, China) and Prof. XIANG BenChun (Shihezi Agricultural College, Xinjiang, China) for allowing me free access to the collections at their establishments during my 1995 visit.

Additional information on distribution and hostplants, or help with obtaining photos, livestock and/or specimens, was given by the late J.-M. Cadiou (Belgium); S. V. Beshkov (Bulgaria); B. Skule (Denmark); U. Eitschberger, M. Geck, S. Heinig, T. Kaltenbach, the late Clas M. Naumann, M. A. Pelzer, H. Schröder and E. Thomson (Germany); Dubi Benyamini (Israel); S. Sugi (Japan); the late A. Valetta (Malta); W. Hogenes, E. A. Löliger and J. C. Meerman (Netherlands); F. König and A. Popescu-Gorj (Romania); the late V. V. Zolotuhin and Viktor Sinjaev (Russia); Ben Trott, the late R. Agenjo, the late M. R. Gomez Bustillo, J. L. Viejo Montesinos and J. L. Yela Garcia (Spain); K. A. Efetov (Ukraine (Crimea)); A. S. Talhouk (Lebanon); Jaakko Pohjoismäki (Finland); Jean-Michel Bompar, Frank Deschandol, Pascal Régnier and Daniel Chanselme (France); and Mark O'Neill, Mark Boddington and Roger Perkins (UK), to all of whom I express my warmest thanks. I am especially indebted to the late E. P. Wiltshire, not only for supplying information, but also for directing me to his extensive Middle Eastern collection in the Natural History Museum, London. Many thanks are also due to Alan Wood and the computer centre of CAB International for their help in handling data during the early stages.

Many thanks must also go to the following individuals for providing additional photos and/or data, without which this resource would not be what it is: Alexander Poltavsky, Andrey Zagorinsky, Adedotun Ajibade, Alan Chin-Lee, Aldo Catania, Alexandre Dell'Olivo, Allen Liu, Anna Hundsdörfer, Anton Kozlov, Axel Hausmann, Azan Karam, Ben Smith, Ben Trott, Brigitte Gennin, Christodoulos Makris, Cor Zonneveld, Daniele Besomi, Darius Baužys, Dave Grundy, Dmitry Shovkoon, Dong Wei, Eduardo Marabuto, Emil Enchev, Erhard Bodi, Erich Mangl, Evgenij Komarov, Felipe Gil-T, Gail Hampshire, Gary Saunders, Gergely Petrány, H. Stadelmeier, Hans van Oosterhout, Isabel Angulo, Jarek Bury, Jean Haxaire, John Tennent, Josef De Freina, Kari Tuomiranta, Kees Jan van Zwienen, Klaas van Haeringen, Leon Truscott, Leong Tzi Ming, Leonid Strelok, M. Singer, Marina Batchelor, Mark Vincent, Martin Garner, Martin Honey, Martin Lödl, Matthew Cock, Michal Řezáč, Natalie Ivonina, Nickolai Ivshin, Oleg Korsun, Paolo Mazzei, Patricia Fenn, Paul Brock, Paul Fontaine, Pauline Montécot, Pavel Gorbunov, Qiaoqiao Zhang, Richard Evans, Robert Tanner, Robert Young, Roberto Zappaterra, Roman Zamorski, Ronald Brechlin, Roy Goff, S. Wambeke, Sanjay Sondhi, Sergey Leonov, Sergey Rybalkin, Stefan Wils, Svyatoslav Knyazev, Szabolcs Safian, Vats Jaros, Vladimir Kiselev, Vyacheslav Ivonin, Xavier Vitureau, and Yevgeniy Khalaim.

A special mention needs to be made of Serge Yevdoshenko, who has dedicated a great deal of time and effort to tracking down, rearing and photographing the early stages of many lesser known species, especially members of the genus Hemaris.

R. W. Crosskey, M. G. Fitton and T. Huddleston (Natural History Museum, London); T. H. Ford (Sheffield); the late M. R. Shaw (Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh); and B. Herting and H.-P. Tschorsnig (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Stuttgart), all provided specialist information and guidance on the vexed subject of sphingid parasitoids.

I would also like to thank the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust for a six-week Travelling Fellowship in 1995 to investigate the distribution of many less well known species in China.

Finally, thanks are also due to the late Charles Y. Schotman (Schiedam, Netherlands) and Mike Amphlett for introducing me to the wonderful world of computer graphics, picture manipulation and databases.