SPHINX KALMI^ 



GENUS, SPHINX. 



SPECIES, KALMi^ (" of laurcl"). 



" Sphinx " because the caterpillars rear the fore part 

 of the body and rest in a position which Linnaeus 

 thought suggestive of the sphinx, and "kalmise" be- 

 cause the caterpillars were first found on laurel, Kalmia 

 latifolia. We have found them on lilac, ash, beach- 

 plum, and fringe-tree, and others mention privet as 

 their food-plant. They also are said to be double- 

 brooded, but we have found the caterpillars only in 

 August, September, and October, and the moths never 

 emerged in the same year. 



Their range is from Canada to Georgia, and west to 

 Missouri, but they are not common. It is an event to 

 find the larva, and we have caught but few of the fe- 

 male moths. One laid us eggs on the 3d of Septem- 

 ber — very pale green, oval eggs, which hatched seven 

 days later, in the afternoon, having turned sordid white 

 the day before. 



The young caterpillars were three sixteenths of an 

 inch long, and colorless until they ate, except the caudal 

 horn, which was gray and curved forward. After 

 feeding they were green, except the head, anal seg- 

 ment, legs, and props, which were yellowish, and the 



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