4 FARMERS’ BULLETIN 105. 
species, and its range was given in 1888 as from “ Virginia to Florida; 
westward to the Mississippi; as far north as Indiana.” It is common 
in Virginia, Maryland, and Ohio, and of late years it has extended 
its range northward on the Atlantic coast and has been received from 
several localities in southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, 
Kentucky, and Dela- 
ware. It has spread 
northward in Dela- 
ware and has greatly 
increased in numbers 
where it was formerly 
rare. Its northward 
range appears to be 
limited in the West 
by Illinois* This 
species was observed 
in Alabama in 1883, 
was received from 
Denison,.‘Lex:s im 
1889, and was re- 
ported from Arkan- 
sas in 1900. By 1906 
Map showing the known distribution of the catalpa it had become estab- 
BiGas. 
sphinx in the United States in 1915. (Original. ) 
lished at Elberon and 
Bloomfield, \. J., the latter, westward and a little north of New York 
City, being the northernmost point of which we have knowledge of its 
occurrence in the East. It has since been reported from Burlington, 
N. C., Jericho Springs, Mo., and Wetmore, Tenn. 
LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 
The catalpa sphinx is subject to considerable fluctuation in numbers. 
For one, two, or even several years it will not be seen in a given 
locality and will then suddenly appear in large numbers, completely 
defoliating the trees and covering the ground beneath with larval 
excreta. It is interesting to cbserve that John Abbot, who collected 
the type specimens in Georgia, mentioned the fact more than a hun- 
dred years ago that fishermen who inhabited the borders of the 
swamps hunted for these larvee as the best bait for catching fish, and 
1The range of its food plants is as follows: From the Gulf of Mexico in western 
Florida, and on the rivers in Alabama and Georgia, westward and northward along the 
Mississippi and its southern tributaries in the great delta formation to above the mouth 
of the Ohio; thence up the Wabash and White rivers of Indiana to near Vincennes. This 
was formerly taken by entomologists to indicate also the range of the catalpa sphinx. 
Published records, however, were lacking until recently to show its general occurrence 
west of Florida and Georgia along the gulf. 
