:MEM()1KS of the ^tatioxal academy of sciences. 
i63 
Dr. Dyar, in his ac-couiit of the Califoriuau insect, states that “the larvie turn bluish and enter 
the ground to xuipate, forming a cell lined with silk.” 
Pupa , — Dark brown. Head case smooth, deeply incised between the abdominal segments. 
Anal segment large and smooth, the cremaster ending in two short points “projecting almost 
laterally from the last segment, which, nevertheless, hold to the silken web with considerable 
firmness. Length, 2(» mm.; width, 8 mm.” (Dyar). 
Food plants , — Feeds on the ])oplar, aspen, Balm of Gilead, and willow, both in Maine and in 
California. 
Habits. — I first found the singular sphinx-like caterpillar of this moth over twenty-five years 
ago at Brunswick on the Balm ot* Gilead, September 28. The general color was a purplish lead; 
head and first segment greenish; the horn on the eighth segment black, the dark shade jirolonged 
into a lateral line ; a kidney-shaped spot on the last segment; spiracles black, encircled with white; 
below a yellow line. Beneath greenish and yellowish straw. Oidober fi it pupated. 
The remarkable larva recalls those of the Sphingkhe, and I confess -when I first saw it I was 
uncertain whether to regard it as a Sphingid or not. The horn is slightly retractile, and thus 
being movable, must add to its efficiency as a terrifying appendage, Avhile the black streak on 
the sides heightens the elfect of the horn. The spiracles also are so large and conspicuous that 
it is possible that they may add to a visage not altogether prepossessing to those insects or birds 
which may desire to be too intimate with it. Many years ago, when a boy, I found tliis larva on 
the Balm of Gilead poxdar, and well remember the peculiar porcelain polish and lilac tints of 
the glaucous green skin and the prominent horn. Dr. Lintner (Eut. Contr., iv, 76) has given an 
interesting account of this caterpillar, which he found both on the aspen and the willow, and he 
also at first, as he says, mistook it for some Sphinx larvm. 
Dr. Dyar has described (Psyche, Vol. Yl, p. 196) at length all the stages (five) of this species 
(P. dhnidkita H. S.) from California, where it feeds on poplar and willow. His larvie were found- 
in the Yosemite Yalley, California, and he says that in that region there are two broods a year, 
the winter being passed in the pupa state. (In New York there seem to be also two broods, from 
the statement of Mr. Tepper, given below.) It seems to ditfer in Stage I from the normal form in 
the eighth abdominal segment having “a single large dorsal dot instead of row 1, but it bears two 
setm” (p. 351). 
In Maine I observed the eggs and freshly hatched young on the underside of the leaves of 
the aspen the 2()th of July and 1st of August. The female lays usually throe eggs near together 
on a leaf. The larva does not api>ear to eat them up, as the eggs are found throughout the 
month, with simply the hole gnawed by the larva in making its exit. The young larva is solitary, 
and eats a patch on the underside of the leaf. The larva in the second and later stages were 
unusually frequent in Maine in 1890. 
The larva hiis been described by Mr. C. F. Goodhue, who has found it on the poplar and 
willow in New Hampshire late in September. “The transformation t?ikes idace in a slight cocoon 
of dead leaves fastened together with a few silken threads, on the suidace of the ground, much in 
the manner Harapsa myy'on.'’' The moth appears in spring, as well as in August; it occurs 
throughout the Eastern ami Mid<lle States. 
Mr. F. Tepper has raised the caterpillar which occurred on the willow in New Yhwk June 22; . 
it went under ground a few days alter, and the moth emerged August 22. 
Geographical distribution , — Occurs in the A]t])alachiau and Chimpestrian subprovinces. Orono, 
Me. (Mrs, Feriiald) ; Brunswick, Me. (Packard); New Hampshire (Goodhue) ; Amherst, Mass. (Mrs. 
Fernald); Albany, N. Y. (Lintner, Meske); Plattsburg, N. Y. (Hudson); Seattle, Wash. (Johnson); 
Yictoria, British Columbia (Neumoegen). 
Yar. portlandia, Portland, Greg. (Behrens, Dyar); normal form Chicago, 111. (Westcott); 
Kacine, Wis, (Meske); Colorado (IJ. S. Nat. Mus.); Alaska, ^laryland, Colorado, Ohio, and 
Nebraska (U. S. Nat. Mus.); Canada, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New 
York, North Carolina, Los Angeles, Cal., ^lichigan (Cook, Mus. Comp. Zook); Fort Collins, Colo., 
June 20, at light (Baker); New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nebraska (Palm). * 
