THE CATALPA SPHINX. 5 
it is said that this bait is so esteemed for this purpose in some parts 
of Florida that the catalpa is often cultivated for no other purpose 
than to attract the insect. 
The eggs, as has been stated, are laid in masses, and the young larve 
feed in groups for some time. The capacity of the species for multi- 
plying may be judged from the fact that an egg mass in the collection 
of the United States National Museum contains nearly 1,000 eggs. 
The mass is not compact, however, and is but slightly fastened to the 
underside of the leaves. Sometimes the eggs are laid in smaller 
masses on the stems and branches. The larve molt four times, 
becoming variable in their markings as they grow older. In the 
extreme South the insect is reported as being found in all stages 
during the summer, and there are three or four generations a year, 
the last generation wintering in the pupal stage beneath the ground 
and giving forth the moths the following March. In the summer, 
according to observations made in Florida, the time occupied by a 
complete generation is about six weeks. Around Washington, D. C., 
at Coalburg, W. Va., and probably everywhere in its southern range, 
there are two generations annually. 
NATURAL ENEMIES. 
A number of parasitic insects attack and lull the catalpa sphinx. 
Apanteles congregatus Say, a common, widespread, and very gen- 
eral parasite of sphinx caterpillars throughout the eastern United 
States, attacks this species quite as freely as it does the hornworms of 
tobacco and tomato. Unfortunately, this parasite is in turn attacked 
by other parasites, two species of which? are recorded. These last, 
fortunately, do not seem to be generally abundant, hence the beneficial 
parasite flourishes in spite of their attacks. Apanteles congregatus 
is a minute, four-winged, wasplike insect which lays its eggs in the 
sphinx caterpillar. Its larve—white, maggotlke creatures—de- 
velop within the body of the caterpillar, and when full fed and ready 
for transformation each individual eats a hole through the skin of 
the caterpillar and spins its little white cocoon on the outside. Two 
hundred or more such cocoons may be seen on the body of a single 
caterpillar. After a few days the winged parasites issue from the 
cocoons to lay eggs and produce another generation of larvee. 
(Apanteles) Microplitis catalpae Riley, which appears to be espe- 
cially a parasite of the genus to which the catalpa sphinx belongs, is 
also an enemy of this species, although, like the Apanteles, it is some- 
times itself attacked by other parasites.? 
1 Mesochorus aprilinus Ashm. and Hemiteles mesochoridis Riley MS. 
2 Hypopteromalus tabacum Fitch and (Holcopelte) Horismenus microgastri Ashm., 
