THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



INSECTS INJrKIOlIS TO THE GRAPE-VINE : No. 3. 



The Achemon Spliiux. 

 (I'hilampdns achemon, Drury.*J 

 AVc herewith represent another large Grape- 

 vine-feeding' insect, belonging to tlie great 

 Sjil/iii.r faniily, :uul wliich may be popularly 



[Fig. 33] 



Culois- Green, yellow and brown 



known a.< tlie Achemon Sphinx. It has been 

 found in almost every State where the Grape is 

 cultivated, and also occurs in Canada. It feeds 

 on the American Ivy {Ampelopsis quinqutfoUa) 

 witli as much relish as on the Grape-vine, and 



seems to show no preference for any of the 

 ditfercTit varieties of the latter. It is, however, 

 worthy of remark, that both its food-plants be- 

 long to the same botanical Family. 

 The full grown larva (Fig. 33 a) is usually 



^Afsk, 



V 



( olors— Piuk, giay and brown, 

 found (Inriiiu- the latter part of August and fore 



I'Mii "f -,iii,iiiii<i'. li iiir.i-nres about 84 inches 



' ■ '-■■■■■'■■ rhinJc Crantor, Cramer 



;" II, i , -enus Phitampelus— 



cted by Hi 



Philan 

 ich aUo feeds on the 



best known to the American reader. 



when crawling, which operation is effected by 

 a series of sudden jerks. The third segment is 

 the largest, the second but half its size and the 

 iirst still smaller, and when at i-est the two last 

 mentioned segments are partly withdrawn into 

 the third as shown in our figure. The young 

 larva is green, with a long slender reddish horn 

 rising from the eleventh seg- 

 ment and curving over the 

 back, and though we have 

 found full grown specimens 

 that were equally as green 

 as the younger ones, they 

 more generally assume a pale 

 straw or reddish-browni col- 

 or, and the long recurved 

 horn is invariably replaced by a highly pol- 

 ished lenticular tubercle. The descriptions 

 extant of this worm are quite brief and in- 

 complete. The specimen from which our draw- 

 ing was made, was of a pale straw color 

 which deepened at the sides and finally merged 

 into a rich vandyke-brown. A line of Afeuille- 

 mofte brown, deep and distinct on the anterior 

 part, but indistinct and almost cflaced on the 

 posterior part of each segment, ran along the 

 back, and another line of the same color con- 

 tinuous, and with its upper edge fading gradu- 

 ally, extended along each .side. The six scol- 

 loped spots were cream-colored; the head, 

 thoracic segments and breathing-holes inclined 

 to flesh-color, and the prolegs and caudal plate 

 were deep brown. The worm is covered more 

 or less with minute sj^ots 

 which are dark on the back 

 but light and annulatcd at 

 the sides, w'hile there are from 

 six to eight transverse wrink- 

 les on all but the thoracic and 

 caudal segments. 



The color of the W'orm, 

 when about to transform, is 

 often of a most beautiful 

 pink or crimson. The chrys- 

 alis (Fig. 34 b) is formed 

 within a smooth cavity under 

 ground. It is of a dark shiny 

 mahogany-brown color, sha- 

 greened or roughened, espe- 

 cially at the anterior edge of 

 the segments on the back. 

 Unlike the Ilog-caterpillarof the Vine, describ- 

 ed in our last, this insect is everywhere single- 

 brooded, the chrysalis remaining in the ground 

 through the fall, winter and spring months, and 

 producing the moth towards the latter part of 

 June. We rather incline to believe however that 



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