7s 



SECOND ANNUAL REPORT OF 



the third segment in this species, as well as in the Achemon Sphinx, 

 which is so much swollen, and into which the head and first two seg- 

 ments are retracted. 



When about to transform, the larva of our Satellite Sphinx enters 

 a short distance into the ground, and soon works off its caterpillar- 

 skin and becomes a chrysalis of a deep chestnut-brown, and very 

 much of the same form as that of the Achemon Sphinx, figured on 

 page 74. The moth (Fig. 53), makes its appearance in June of 

 the following year, though it has been known to issue the same year 

 that it had existed as larva. In this last event, it doubtless becomes 

 barren, like others under similar circumstances, as was shown on 

 page 75. The colors of the moth are light olive-gray, variegated as 

 in the figure with dark olive-green. The worms are easily subdued 

 by hand-picking. 



y 



THE ABBOT SPHINX— Thyreus Abhotii, Swainson. 



(Lepidoptera, Sphingida?.) 



This is another of the large Grape-feeding insects, occurring on 

 the cultivated and indigenous vines and on the Virginia Creeper, and 

 £ Fi s- 54 -3 having in the full-grown 



larva state, a polished tu- 

 •bercle instead of a horn 

 at the tail. Its habitat is 

 given by Dr. Clemens, as 

 New York, Pennsylvania, 

 Georgia, Massachusetts, 

 and Ohio ; but though not 

 so common as the Sphinx 

 moths previously describ- 

 ed, yet it is often met with 

 both in Illinois and Mis- 

 souri. The larva which is 

 represented in the upper 

 part of Figure 54, varies considerably in appearance. Indeed, the 

 ground-color seems to depend in a measure on the sex, for Dr. Morris 

 describes this larva as reddish-brown with numerous patches of light- 

 green, and expressly states that the female is of a uniform reddish- 

 brown, with an interrupted dark brown dorsal line and transverse 

 stria}. I have reared two individuals which came to their growth 

 about the last of July, at which time they were both without a ves- 

 tige of green. The ground-color was dirty yellowish, especially at 

 the sides. Each segment was marked transversely with six or seven 

 slightly impressed fine black lines, and longitudinally with wider 



m 



