TRAMPS THROUGH THE GULF STATES II 



BY R. W. SHUFELDT, M. D. 



(PHOTOGRAPHS FURNISHED BY MRS. E. P. ANDERSON AND BY THE AUTHOR) 



WHILE in southern Florida, you will certainly 

 remember having seen spscimens of that wonder- 

 ful plant known as the Spotted Trumpet Leaf 

 a species related to our Pitcher Plant of the North, and 

 quite as interesting. Botanists recognize it as Saracenia 

 variolaris, and not long ago the writer received two 

 magnificent specimens of it, by parcel post, from Mr. 

 F. W. Walker, of Orlando, 

 Florida. Both plants were 

 photographed natural size 

 by the writer, and exhibit- 

 ed at the Biological Society 

 of Washington at one of its 

 April sessions (1920). Sub- 

 sequently the specimens 

 were accepted at the United 

 States Botanic Gardens, of 

 Washington, D. C, and the 

 Superintendent, Mr.George 

 W. Hess, informed the 

 writer that they had never 

 had examples of the plant 

 there before. 



Nearly all the parts of 

 the flowers of this species 

 are of a pale grass green, 

 which is likewise the case 

 with the greatly elongated 

 "trumpets" which repre- 

 sent the leaves of the plant. 

 These, at their upper ends, 

 inside and out, are general- 

 ly spotted in short rows of 

 pale, yellowish white spots, 

 as shown in the illustra- 

 tion (Fig. 10). This latter 

 was made natural size, on 

 a six and a half by eight 

 and a half plate, and shows, 

 in the clearest possible 

 manner, all the parts of the plant, including some of the 

 dark brown and broken stalks of the leaves of the 

 previous year. 



In tramping through the wilds of such an elegant 

 sub-tropical country as is represented by our Gulf States, 

 one may very profitably devote a part of the time, after 

 dark in camp, to the collecting and properly preserving 

 for the cabinet at home a number of the beautiful moths 

 that occur there at certain seasons of the year. The 

 Luna Moth shown in Figure 11 is a splendid example 

 of these, and a very favorite one. But then, there is 

 a perfect host of others, some of the species being 

 entirely confined to those parts of the country. Fre- 



A REMARKABLE PITCHER PLANT FROM FLORIDA 



Figure 10. As a group, the pitcher plants of the country stand among 

 the most curious flowers that we have. The spotted Trumpet Leaf of 

 the South; photographed natural size by the author. Thif is one of 

 the strangest species of this small group. (Reduced one-half.) 



quently, in the evenings, the camp fire will attract a 

 number of these ; and should the explorer remain several 

 days in the same locality in the forest, many moths may 

 be enticed by "sugaring" some of the trees of the vicinity. 

 We now have a number of popular works that inform 

 the collectors of moths and butterflies as to how they 

 should proceed to attract them; how to make the cap- 

 tures, and how to care for 

 the specimens after they 

 are taken. Dr. W. J. Hol- 

 land's "Moth-Book" and 

 "Butterfly-Book" give all 

 this in great detail, as do 

 various Government publi- 

 cations and the hand-books 

 of popular lepidopterists. 



The Sphinxes, or Hawk- 

 moths, form a very large 

 group and a most interest- 

 ing one, not a few species 

 of which can only be cap- 

 tured in the Gulf States. 

 Among them occurs the 

 Giant Sphinx, which is 

 only a "straggler" in south- 

 ern Florida and southern 

 Texas; it is of a rich 

 brown color, with a row of 

 orange spots down each 

 side of its body; it may 

 have a spread of at least 

 thirteen and a half centi- 

 meters. One will have a 

 prize indeed should one 

 capture a specimen of this 

 species and bring it safely 

 home in good condition ; it 

 will surely be the envy of 

 every moth collector in the 

 explorer's list of friends. 

 There are no fewer than five subfamilies of the family of 

 Hawkmoths, which family contains hundreds of different 

 species. Many have a coloration and bizarre markings 

 of extreme beauty, and some of the southern forms are 

 exceedingly rare in collections. 



One is sure to meet with the big Tomato Sphinx, and 

 the five-spotted Hawkmoth, while there are numerous 

 related species in Louisiana and Texas. 



Many of our larger moths present an elegant array of 

 colors and markings ; and unless one has enjoyed oppor- 

 tunities to examine and study these, there are certainly 

 many surprises in store for him. One of the grandest of 

 our moth groups is the Underwing genus (Catocala), and 



