THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



141 



every time I contemplate that within each of these varied and fan- 

 tastic caterpillars— these creeping and groveling "worms"— is locked 

 up the future butterfly, or moth, which is destined, fairy-like, to ride 

 the air on its gauzy wings, so totally unlike its former self. Verily 

 the metamorphoses of the lower animals must prove a never-failing 

 source of joy and felicity to those who have learned to open the pages 

 of the great Book of Nature ! 



But beyond the general satisfaction experienced in studying 

 these transient forms, there will be found ample food for the philo- 

 sophic mind in the larval variations to be met with in the same species. 

 Some vary according to the character of their food-plant, and the 

 study of these variations— of phytophagic varieties and phytophagic 

 species — must ever prove interesting as well as important, by throw- 

 ing light on the question of the origin of species. Some (e. g. the 

 common Yellow Bear, Fig. 28, a, p. OS) vary very much without regard 

 to food-plant. Our Sphinx larvae, more particularly, are subject to 

 these variations, and it is for this reason that larval characters alone, 

 unaccompanied by those of the perfect insect, are of so little value 

 in classification. 



The White-lined Morning Sphinx (Fig. GO) presents one of the 

 most striking cases of larval variation, as may be seen by comparing 

 the light form of Figure 61 with the dark form of Figure 62. In the 

 summer of 18G3 I took both these forms on the same plant, and have 

 repeatedly met with them since \ but the moths bred from them show 

 no differences whatever. 



This beautiful moth is called by Harris the White-lined Morning 

 Sphinx, though its generic name means " Evening Friend." It is dis- 

 tinguished principally by its roseate under-wings, and by a broad, 

 pale band running from the apex to the base of the dark-olive front 

 wings. 



[Fig.M.] 



^ J p-%-- J ^4to 



The larva feeds upon purslane, turnip, buckwheat, watermelon, 

 and even apple and grape leaves, upon any of which it maybe found 

 In the month of July. It descends into the ground and, within a 

 smooth cavity, changes into a light brown chrysalis, from which the 

 moth emerges during the month of September. 



The most common form of this larva is that given at Figure 61 ; 

 its color is yellowish«green, with a prominent subdorsal row of ellip- 



