64 SPHINGID^l. 



Pupa. — Rather slender, head small, frons at right angles 

 to the longitudinal axis of body ; tongue reaching tip of 

 wing-case, in a free sheath which starts from' the front of head 

 at right angles to body, curves backwards till parallel with 

 the body and then forwards again to touch the ventral surface 

 of the pupa, the slightly bulbous end being near the base of 

 the eye ; dorsum of segment 2 slightly notched ; antenna of 

 £ about 1-5 mm. longer, of $ about 1-5 mm. shorter than 

 fore leg ; a long, narrow coxal piece. Surface shining ; 

 abdomen finely pitted, the margins of the abdominal segments 

 more coarsely pitted ; sculpturing on segment 4 a pear-shaped, 

 raised, polished area on each side of the dorsal line, the 

 broad ends ventrad and reaching to about the dorso-lateral 

 line ; veins of wings slightly raised ; ante-spiracular ridges 

 on segments 9 to 11, three coarse ridges on each. Spiracles 

 oval, rising slightly from shallow depressions, that of 2 covered 

 by a short wide lobe extending from the front margin of 3. 

 Cremaster conical, long and stout, dorsal surface rugose, 

 and ending in two short, stout, conical teeth. Colour leather- 

 brown, spiracles and cremaster black. Length 47 mm. ; 

 breadth 12 mm. ; tongue-sheath about 13-5 mm. long. 



Habits. — Eggs laid singly on any part of the food-plants, 

 usually of the families Leguminosae and Convolvulacea3. They 

 are very small, probably the smallest of the sphingids in pro- 

 portion to the size of the moth. On emerging, the young larva 

 first eats the egg-shell, and after resting on the underside of 

 a leaf commences feeding on it. When small it lies on the 

 leaves, but the full-fed larva may be found on any part of the 

 plant or even on the ground hiding among the roots during 

 the day. It usually rests with the body stretched out straight, 

 the head slightly contracted against segment 2 and 2 against 

 3. When alarmed it bends the body to one side with the 

 head touching the body near the prolegs of segments 9 and 10, 

 and sometimes raises the anal claspers off the surface on which 

 it is resting, the soles of the feet joined together and quite 

 hidden under the anal flap. It never adopts the typical 

 " sphinx " attitude of raising the front segments and retracting 

 the head. It strikes sideways with the head when molested. 

 The larval stages last from three to four weeks. The larva 

 then rests without feeding for three or four days, and the 

 dorsal area assumes a darker hue. It finally leaves the 

 food-plant, and, in contrast to its usual sluggish habits hurries 

 along the ground till it finds a suitable place to burrow into 

 the earth, in which it forms an ovoid pupal- cell 3 or 4 inches 

 underground. The larvae, which feed on cultivated pulses 

 (Phaseolus), sometimes occur in immense numbers in spite 

 of the havoc caused by crows and other birds, rats, lizards, 

 parasitic flies and ichneumons and burrowing wasps, all 

 of which take heavy toll of them. 



