THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



89 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE fi RAPE- VINE— No. 4. 



The Satellite Siihiiix. 



{PkiliJiiipeliis satdlitia, Linn.*) 

 Like the Achemon Sphinx, figured ami des- 

 cribed iu our last number, -this insect occurs in 

 almost every State in tlie Union. It also bears 

 s strong resemblance to the former species, and 

 likewise 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 the spots 

 themselves being less scolloped. 



[Fig. 



Misli-lii-own; (c) palc- 



In the latitude of St. Louis, this worm is 

 found full grown throughout tlic ;nonth 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 llawk-moths (Sphinx 

 family) known to us, are glued singly to the 

 leaf of the plant which is to furnish the future 



*Thi' synonvins for this itist'ct :iro Sphinx hjcaon, ("i-n- 

 mcrj Pkolus lijcinn. Iliulini-r, mii.I Ihiiihfn i>imilonis, llcii-h- 

 ner. We lulojit ll;UTi^-s uomi-iiclatm r l.ii- ruiisuns :ilr.'iiiiy 

 Riven in a tiirnu'i- nmulii r Mr A (.n.ic (I'mc. EnLSur 

 Phil., I, p. i;u), Ijelieves tlKit Uw Spliiiu lijcaon of the au- 

 thors above ([Uoted, is ili^tiiK't from S. S'i/ci/i/m, Linn., ami 

 would fain ** eliminate" a third s\>t:rH'^ ( posticatua) . For 

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

 regard lycaon as a variety of satdlitia. 



worm with food. When first hatched, and for 

 some time afterwards, the larva is green, with 

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

 mensely long straight pink horn at the tail. 

 This horij 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 iieai'ly 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 wc have happened 

 across manyspecimens of this worm during the 

 last seven years, wc never once found one that 

 was green aftei'' the third moult; nor do we be- 

 lieve that there are ever any more than fivefull- 

 sizcd 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 Ilusmann's vineyard. 

 The back was pinkish, inclining to flesh-colo?; 

 the sides gradually became darker and darker, 

 and" the five patches on segments 6 — 10 inclu- 

 sive, were cream-yellow with a black annula- 

 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 live segments there 

 were but two such dots. A pale longitudinal 

 line ran. above the yellow jiatches, and the head 

 and first joint were uniformly dull reddish- 

 brown. 



The most common general color of the full 

 grown 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, arc retracted 

 into the yo»r</(, and Mr. J. A. Lintnerf makes 

 the same false assertion. It is the third 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 outers a short distance into the 

 ground, and soon works off its caterpillar-skiii 

 and becomes a chrysalis of a deep chcstnut- 



• Synopsis of N. A. Lepidoptcra, p. 177. 

 tProc. Ent. Soc. I'hil., III., p. UiO. 



