1 894.] KNTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 265 



LARVA AND PUPA OF SPHINX LUSCITIOSA, Cram. 

 By RICHARD E. KUNZE, M. D., New York. 



In Fernald's " Sphingidae of New England ' : and John B. 

 Smith's "Sphingidae of America, North of Mexico," no descrip- 

 tion of this larva is given, and in the language of Prof. Smith 

 " this lack in our knowledge of Sphinx larva ought to be soon. 

 filled .' ' About a year ago August igth, I found, on purple willow 

 ( Sal ix pur pure a), in a swamp in Queens County, N. Y. , a full- 

 grown larva of luscitiosa, parasitized, as I then thought, and in 

 which opinion Mr. J. Doll joined, who kindly determined it for 

 me. I fed it for nearly four or five days, so as to give me an 

 opportunity of studying it closely and noting difference between 

 it and larva ofS. drupiferarum, which it resembles in color with the 

 exception of the stripes on each side of the head. I found both 

 these larvae on the same day, of nearly one size, and very near 

 one another. In a week after pupating, I removed the pupa, 

 which in latter part of May, 1894, produced a perfect $ to my 

 surprise. 



During the season of 1894, I determined to find luscitiosa 

 larvae come what may, and not knowing the young larva, took 

 every Sphinx larva found on willow, and in fact nearly every other 

 larva found on willows of this vicinity. Thus I obtained lots of 

 nice things of which more another time. I hunted these between 

 June 24th and July 22nd in one swamp in Long Island, one bog- 

 in West Chester County, N. Y. , and another bog in Essex County, 

 N. J., making six trips and finding nine luscitiosa larvae. 



Before the second moult this larva cannot be distinguished in 

 color by the naked eye from Smer. geminatus, but may easily 

 be separated by noticing the number of sphingial bands. In 

 luscitiosa there are seven oblique stripes and in the young larva 

 of geminatus only six visible to the naked eye. In color of the 

 caudal horn, in shape and size of the same, these two larvae are 

 nearly identical up to the second moult. There are two broods 

 of luscitiosa in this vicinity, the second appearing in August. 



To find what I did 'required careful search of every leaf, twig 

 and cane of every species of willow, excepting the weeping- 

 willow. While finding geminatus and Paonias exc&catus on 

 several kinds of willows, I always took luscitiosa from Salix 

 purpurea, excepting one or two instances, and the smallest sped- 



