THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



89 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE GRAPE-VINE— No. 4. 

 The Satellite Sphinx. 



{Pkilampelus safellitia, Linn.*) 

 Like the Achemon Sphinx, figured and des- 

 cribed in our last number, this insect occurs in 

 almost every State in the Union. It also bears 

 a strong- resemblance to the former species, and 

 liivcwise feeds upon the Ampelopsis as well as 

 upon the Grape-vine; but the worm may readily 

 be distinguished by having five cream-colored 

 spots each side, instead of six, and by tiie spots 

 themselves being less scolloped. 



[Fig. 58.] 



In the latitude of St. Louis, tliis worm is 

 found full grown throughout tlie nionth of Sep- 

 tember, and a few specimens may even be found 

 as late as the last of October. The eggs of this 

 species, as of all other Ilawk-moths (^Sphi)ix 

 family) known to us, are glued singly to the 

 leaf of the plant which is to furnish the future 



•The synonyms foi- this insect .ire Siihiii.r li/cnon. t'ru- 

 mer; Pholiis lijcaon, Hiiebner, ami Ji^iplmi jNui.hjnis, Iliu-li- 

 ncr. We iulopt Harris's nonienclMtiir.- i..r icaM.ii- Mliiady 

 given in :i former number. Mr. A (,i..|. iIim, IOiiI.Sdc 

 Phil., I, p. m), believes that the S/.h,,,, /./.,;.,« ,,i ilie au- 

 thors above quoted, is distinct from S. S'lUililia, Linn , and 

 would fain "eliminate" a third species { postical us) . For 

 reasons which it woiUd be tedious to give here, we prefer to 

 regard lycaon as a variety of satellilia. 



worm with food. When first hatched, and for 

 some time afterwards, the larva is green, with 

 a tinge of pink along the sides, and wiih an im- 

 mensely long straight pink horn at the tail. 

 This horn soon begins to shorten, and finally 

 curls round like a dog"s tail, as at Figure 58 c. 

 As the worm grows older it changes to a red- 

 dish-brown, and by the third moult it entirely 

 loses the caudal horn. 



When full grown, it measures nearly four 

 inches in length, and when crawling appears as 

 at Figure 58 a. It crawls by a series of sudden 

 jerks, and will often fling its head savagely 

 from side to side when alarmed. Dr. Morris* 

 describes the mature larva as being green, with 

 six side patches; but though we have happened 

 across many specimens of this worm during the 

 last seven years, we never once found one that 

 was green after the third moult ; nor do we be- 

 lieve that there are ever any more than fivefnll- 

 sized yellow spots each side, even in the young 

 individuals. The specimen from which our 

 figure was made, occurred in 18G7, at Hermann, 

 Missouri, in Mr. George IIusmann"s vineyard. 

 The back was pinkish, inclining to flesh-color; 

 the sides gradually became darker and darker, 

 and the five patches on segments C— 10 inclu- 

 sive, were cream-yellow with a black aiinula- 

 tion, and shaped as in our figure. On segments 

 2, 3, i, 5 and 6, were numerous small black dots, 

 but on each of the following five segments there 

 were but two such dots. A pale longitudinal 

 line ran above the yellow patches, and the head 

 and first joint were uniformly dull reddish- 

 brown. 



The most common general color of the full 

 L;rown worm is a rich velvety vinous-brown. 

 When at rest, it draws back the fore part of the 

 body, and retracts the head and first two joints 

 into the third (see Fig. 58 h), and in this mo- 

 tionless position it no doubt manages to escape 

 from the clutches of many a hungry insectivo- 

 rous bird. Dr. Morris, copying perhaps after 

 Harris, erroneously states that the three ante- 

 rior joints, together with the head, are retracted 

 into the fourth, and Mr. J. A. Lintncrf makes 

 the same false assertion. It is the ihi7-d seg- 

 ment in this species, as well as in the Achemon 

 Sphinx, which is so much swollen, and into 

 which the head and first two segments are re- 

 tracted. 



When about to transform, the larva of our 

 Satellite Sphinx enters a short distance into the 

 ground, and soon works off its caterpillar-skin 

 and becomes a chrysalis of a deep chestnut- 



