208 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE CHERRY. 



No. 111. The Purblind Sphinx. 



Smerinthus my ops (Sm. & Abb.). 



There are sometimes found on cherry-trees, devouring the 

 leaves, in the month of August, large, cylindrical, green larvae, 

 about two inches long, with a curved horn at the end of the 

 body. The head is bluish green, with a bright-yellow line on 

 the sides; the body is green, with a row of reddish-brown spots 

 on each side of the back, and another similar row lower down 

 near the breathing-pores. Along each side there are six oblique 

 bright-yellow bands, and two short yellow lines on the anterior 

 segments. The horn is green, tinted with yellow at the sides. 

 This is the larva of the purblind sphinx. 



When full grown, it buries itself under the ground, where 

 it changes to a dark-brown chrysalis, and in this condition 

 remains until the following June or July, when the perfect 

 insect escapes. 



The moth is a very handsome one (see Fig. 214), and meas- 

 ures, when its wings are expanded, about two and a half inches 



FIG. 214. 



across. The head and thorax are chocolate-brown with a 

 purplish tinge, the thorax having a tawny yellow stripe down 

 the middle ; the abdomen is brown, with dull-yellowish spots. 

 The fore wings are chocolate-brown, with black bauds and 

 patches, and are angulated and excavated on the hind margin. 

 The hind wings are dull yellow, with the outer half chocolate- 

 brown, and have an eye-like spot towards the inner margin, 

 black, with a large pale-blue centre. 



