250 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



plied to some of these insects. The species under consider- 

 ation is found on the vine and the creeper in July and August ; 

 when fully grown it descends to the ground, conceals itself 

 under fallen leaves, which it draws together by a few threads 

 so as to form a kind of cocoon, or covers itself with grains of 

 earth and rubbish in the same way, and under this imperfect 

 cover it changes to a pupa or chrysalis, and finally appears in 

 the winged state in the month of July of tlie following year. 

 The moth, to which Sir James Edward Smith gave the name 

 of Pampinatrix, from its living on the shoots of the vine, ex- 

 pands from two and a half to three inches, is of an olive-gray 

 color, except the hind wings, which are rust-colored, and the 

 fore wings and shoulder-covers are traversed with olive-green 

 bands. 



Among the other Sphinges of Massachusetts may be men- 

 tioned those belonging to the genus Smerinthiis, whose tongue 

 is very short and scarcely visible, and whose fore wings are 

 generally scalloped on the outer edge. Their caterpillars are 

 rough or granulated, with a stout thorn on the tail, and a tri- 

 angular head, the apex of the triangle corresponding to the 

 crown. The blind-eyed Smerinthus {S. excwcata) is fawn- 

 colored, clouded with brown, except the hind wings, which are 

 rose-colored in the middle, and ornamented with an eye-like 

 black spot having a pale blue centre. The caterpillar lives on 

 the apple-tree, but is not common enough to prove seriously 

 injurious. The same observation will apply to that of the 

 chocolate brown-eyed Sphinx [Smerinthus my ops), which lives 

 on the wild cherry-tree, and to the walnut Sphinx ( Smerinthus 

 Jiig-landis), which lives on the black walnut and butternut. 

 The latter species is destitute of eye-like spots on the hind 

 wings. Of those belonging to the genus Sphinx proper, that 

 which bears the specific name drupiferarum inhabits the hack- 

 berry ( Celtis occidentalis) and the plum-tree ; Sphinx KalmicB 

 inhabits the broad-leaved laurel [Kcdmia latifolia); the cater- 

 pillar of the Gordius is found on the apple-tree; that of the 

 great ash-colored Sphinx (S. cinerea) on the lilac; Hylccus on 

 the black alder [Prinos g-laber, &c.), and whortleberry; and the 

 curiously checkered caterpillar of Sphinx coniferarum on pines. 



