<% Canadian (Sniowofopi 



VOL. XII. LONDON, ONT., JUNE, 1880. No. 6 



ENTOMOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS. 



THE TOMATO WORM (Sphinx quinque-maculata Hawthorn). 



BY THE REV. C. J. S. BETHUNE, PORT HOPE, ONT. 



Almost everyone, I imagine, has had at some time or other his wonder 

 and curiosity excited by the strange-looking pupa of the Tomato Worm, 

 as it is familiarly termed. It is frequently discovered when digging 

 potatoes in the autumn, or disturbing the soil where tomatoes have been 

 grown. This singular object, which is very correctly represented in the 

 figure, is about two and a half inches long and half an inch in diameter, 

 of a chestnut brown color, and round in shape, tapering towards both 

 ends ; from one end, which is the head of the specimen, there p'roceeds a 

 long curved proboscis like the handle of a jug ; the other end is divided 

 into broad rings and terminates in a point. To one who had never seen 

 anything of the kind before this object must at first prove a great puzzle ; 

 but a little careful examination will remove some of the mystery. It must 

 be alive, for the tail end moves ; but it cannot walk or crawl, and is quite 

 helpless. If we examine it more closely, we find that the rings that move 

 when the creature is touched are very like the rings of a large caterpillar, 

 while at the other end we can trace the eyes, antennas, and even the short 

 wings of a moth, but all enclosed in a hard brown shell. These things 

 show us that it is an insect in its helpless pupa state ; the long jug-handle 

 is the case which contains its tongue for sucking out the nectar from 

 flowers. If we keep it in some damp earth till the next year, there will 

 emerge from it a large handsome moth, of an ashen-grey color, relieved 

 by five bright orange-yellow spots on each side of its body ; its wings 

 expand fully five inches in length, and its body is about the same length 

 as the pupa or chrysalis ; its tongue is of immense length, about double 

 that of the body— when at rest it is coiled up like a watch-spring beneath 

 the head of the insect. The name of the creature is the Five-spotted 

 Sphinx \Sphinx ( Macrosila) quinque-maculata Hawthorn]. 



