SI 



ings, but there is considerable variation in the proportions of black and 

 green in the full grown larvae. The pupa is slender, reddish-brown in- 

 color with an acute, rather long, terminal spine. The adult moth is 

 grayish-brown or ashy color, with black markings, and a white fringe 

 along the outer margin of the wings. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



The larvae were generally parasitized in Jackson and Lawrence coun- 

 ties. Mr. Runner states that worms, covered with white cocoons of the- 

 parasites, were common on nearly every tree examined at Jackson, and 

 these parasitized worms dropping onto the lawns and walks were very 

 ofifensive. On August 5, 1905, he collected thirteen badly parasitized 

 larvae. On August 18, three hundred and one parasites had developed, 

 of which seventy-eight were Apanteles catcdpae Riley, a primary parasite ; 

 two hundred and nineteen Hypopteromalus {Pteroynalus) tabacum Fitch,, 

 and four Horisinenus (Holcopeita) microgastri Ashm., both hyperpara- 

 sites. August 26, seventy-two specimens of H. tabacum and twenty- 

 one of the last-named species had emerged, making a total of 

 seventy-eight primary parasites and three hundred and sixteen second- 

 aries reared from the thirteen larvae. These insects were determined by 

 Dr. Ashmead through the courtesy of Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the 

 United States Bureau of Entomology. As the secondaries outnumber the 

 primaries more than four to one, it is an open question whether this 

 sphinx moth can be controlled by pa:rasitism. 



The catbird, Baltimore oriole, and both the black and yellow-billed 

 cuckoos are reported to feed upon the larvae of this species. In the 

 Southern States the two latter species, although very shy birds, do not 

 hesitate to enter the cities in their eager search for these worms, and they 

 are credited with considerable importance as agents in the control of 

 this pest. 



REMEDIES. 



The gregarious habits of the larvas, especially when young, suggests- 

 their destruction by picking and destroying the leaves infested with the 

 newly-hatqhed colonies. " Their voracious appetites, and the fact that 

 the whole leaf is eaten, makes it possible to poison them with arsenical 

 sprays, but to be effective in saving the foliage they must be applied 

 before the worms become full grown. In nurseries or plantations, deep- 

 cultivation during summer while the insects are in the pupa stage and 

 shallow plowing toward the trees late in the fall will probably destroy 

 large numbers of the pupae. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1881, Riley, Ann. Rept. U. S. Commr. Agri., pp. 189-193. 

 1881, Koebele, Bui. Brooklyn Ent. Soc, 4:20. 



