THE BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 



209 



proboscis is very long, in some species being twice as long as the 

 body, and is coiled up under the head like a watch spring. Many 

 of the caterpillars are known as hornworms, from the strong horn 

 on top of the last segment, which is quite characteristic of the 

 family, though in some cases it is replaced by a bright, glassy 

 eyespot. "When at rest," says Dr. J. B. Smith, "some of them 

 have the habit of elevating the front part of the body and curling 

 the head under a little, giving them a fancied resemblance to a 



sphinx, and from 

 this the scientific 

 name has been 

 derived." A well- 

 known example 

 of this family is 

 the large green 

 tobacco or toma- 

 to worm (Phlege- 

 thontius quinqtie- 

 maculata), which 

 rags the foliage 

 of these plants, 

 and is the tobac- 

 co grower's worst 

 enemy. It has 

 slanting white 

 stripes along its 

 sides, and, when 

 fully grown, is 



FIG. 330. Larvae of achemon sphinx 



Above, young larva with head extended and with caudal horn (en- 

 larged) ; below, full-grown larva with head partly drawn in (natural size) 



about three inches long; then it goes underground and transforms 

 to a mahogany brown pupa from one and one half inches to two 

 inches long, bearing a peculiar handlelike process bent back from 

 the head, which has given it the names of " jug-handle grub " and 

 " hornblower." The pupae remain in the soil over winter, and the 

 moths emerge the next spring, there being two broods a season in 

 the North and three or four in the South. The adults are among 

 our most handsome moths, the wings expanding from three to five 

 inches, ashen-gray in color, the fore-wings crossed by irregular 

 darker lines with a white spot near the center, and the hind-wings 



