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Psyche 5:396-400, 1888.

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PS TCHE. [~ugust-~ctober, 1~90.
NOTES ON THE EARLY STAGES OF TWO SPHINGIDAE. BY ALPHEUS SPRING PACKARD, PROVIDENCE, R. t. It is evident that what little we know,
notwithstanding all the effort which has been made, of the life-histories of our
s/hingidae, will have to be done over
again in a more thorough and syste-
matic way, while each stage should be
very fully and comparatively described,
in order to ascertain the probable rela- tive age both of the species of the genus, and of the genera themselves. In this
way we shall be able to arrive at a prob- able phylogeny of the spliingid family ; i. e., we may discover the ancestral
forms, i.e., those which have through
adaptation s~iivived many ages, and the
later, more highly modified species,
which are the result of adaptation to
newer, changed conditions. One may
feel sure that in this attractive labor, he will derive great intellectual benefit and stimulus.
It will not only cultivate his
powers of observation, but add to habits of reflection, and draw out whatever
latent philosophical capacities or tastes may have laid doimant in his nature.
In such work Weismann's beautiful
"Studies in the Theory of Descent"
will be the student's guide, and it is
greatly to be desired that our younger
lepidopterists should obtain that work
and make a careful study of it. From
our limited experience in rearing only
two or three sphingids, and a number of
bombyces, we feel confident that the
facts and theories in that stimulating
work are as a rule well founded; and
we are glad to acknowledge our great
indebtedness to the learned and thought- ful author. As the work is well trans-
lated by Prof. Meldola, and can be had
at a very moderate price, far less than
the original cost, there is little excuse for not buying it.
Thus far we have perhaps not a
single thorough and well illustrated life- history of any of this group, and we are still in much the same condition that
they were in Europe, before the publi-
cation of Weismann's work. This is
not written to depreciate in any way the excellent and honest work which has
been done by Messrs. Lintner, Riley,
Hulst and others. What we mean to
say is that the life-histories thus far
published, have not been worked out
with reference to the origin of the
markings, the lines, stripes and spots ; nor with reference to the probable rel-
ative ages of the species, nor to the
position in nature of the different gen- era, so as to enable us to determine
which are the older or simpler forms,
and which the more recent, more modi-
fied genera, 01- species. The work can
hardly be done by one person, or in
even several seasons, but should' a few
cooperate, a great deal of desirable work could be in the course of a few years
performed.
The few notes below were made dur-
ing the past summer on two forms allied
to those interesting genera Deilephila




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August-October isgo. J PSYCHE. 397
and Thyreus, as well as Phi/anz/ehts
and Chaeroca@a. I had no intention
of doing any work in this family, and
the notes are not intended to be at all
final, but imperfect as they are, they
show how interesting it would be to
know something of the early larval stages of the American species of A+ion,
Thyreus, Enyo, Deile$hila, Philam-
pelus, and certain tropical forms, to
which the genera in question are allied. Life-history of Deidamia inscrip-
turn. (Harris.)
Mr. James Angus, of West Farm,
N. Y. had the goodness to send me the
eggs of this sphingid, which is allied
to Thdv?-eiis abbotii, and I was able to carry it through its stages, while in
Brunswick, Maine. As the climate is
much cooler there than in New York,
the nights especially being much lower in temperature, the length of the different stages will probably be found to be much greater than in New York, The larva,
according to Mr. Hq Edwards's very
useful Bibliographical catalogue of the
described transformations of North
American lepidoptera, has been briefly
described by Strecker (Rhopal. et Het-
eroc. ; I T 2) and by Fernald (Sphingidae New England, 70,) but the early stages
have not yet been described. The des-
cription of the larva in Strecker's work was however given him by Mr. John
Akhurst, from memory, and Prof.
Fernald's description is simply copied
from Strecker. According to Akhurst the
larva is "full-grown about the last of
June or beginning of July, and is single- brooded, the perfect insect appearing
about the middle of May. Several
moths issued in ~rovidence the end of
May and early in June from pupae
kindly given me by Mr. Angus, but
though several males and females were
placed within the mating bag no
fertilized egg's were obtained. The
eggs froin which my larvae were bred
were received from Mr. Angus, 24
June 1890.
Eg'g.-Rounded oval, rounded alike at
each end, somewhat longer than broad,
length 2 mm. ; greenish in color. The
shell is thin, smooth when examined
under a Tolles triplet of high power,
and also under a 6 inch Tolles objective, but with the latter, scattered roughnesses are perceivable, though not forming
true granulations.
Stage I.-Just hatched 011 the
morning of 27 June. Length 3} to
4 mm. Head rather larger, wider than
the body, which tapers somewhat from
the prothoracic segment to the end. It is uniformly smooth, pale yellowish green,
the head being exactly the same color
as the body. There are on the body no
spots or markings of any kind. The
body is provided with long slender
sparse, grandular, slightly bulbous
hairs, about one-third as long as the
diameter of the body, which arise from
small minute conical warts. The hairs
on the head taper to a fine point.
The very slender, filamental 'i caudal
horn" is, if anything, slightly longer
than the body ; it is held erect, perpen- dicularly to the body, and is shining
black and very hairy, the hairs being




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3 98 PSYCHE. [ August-October 1890.
short and fine, those in the middle of
the horn not being one half as long as
the diameter of the appendage. The
horn is very slightly divided at the end into two tubercles, each hearing a
bristle.
30 June, having fed for two or three
days they are now larger than before,
being 6 to 7 mm. in length, and now the
head is no wider than the body, the latter having after two or three days' consump- tion of food filled out, so that the body does not taper so much toward the end.
There are as yet no spots or stripes on
the body. The piliferous warts are pre-
sent, the four dorsal ones being arranged in a trapezoid ; they are faintly marked, and green in color.
At the end of stage I, about 3-4 July
the body had grown so that the caudal
horn was scarcely two-thirds as long as
the body, when 6 to 7 mm. in length.
There are now, just before ecdysis, faint traces of a diffuse yellowish line, which is seen more distinctly in stage 11, and the granulations on the skin are more
distinct than when the larva was first
hatched.
Stage 17.-4-5 July. Length 10 mm.
The head is now about as wide
as the body, not quite so wide as
where the body is thickest, i.e.-at the
first abdominal segment. The caudal
horn is now only half as long as the
body, and is black and hirsute.
It is dis-
tinctly divided at the end, each lobe bear- ing a seta as long as the horn at the end is thick. About eight rows of granula-
tions cross each segment, and there is
now a faint greenish-yellow lateral line ; but no traces of the oblique lateral
stripes can be seen until at the end of
the stage. The hairs now have lost
their bulbous shape, and taper some-
what to t!ie end. It usually rests on the midrib of the under side of the leaf in
this and the preceding stage.
Stage III.- 9-1 I July. Length
20 mm. The head is now proportion-
ately small, narrower than the rather
thick body, which is a little swollen on the 31-d thoracic and 1st abdominal
segments.
The caudal horn is only as
long as the body is rhick ; it is black, becoming pale at the tip, and green on
each side at the base. There are eight
wrinkles across the back of the bas~il
abdominal segments.
There is a very narrow dorsal dark
green thread-like line, and a much
wider diffuse subdorsal line, the two
meeting at the base of the caudal horn ; below is a whitish green lateralline also ending on the base of the caudal horn.
The oblique lines are yellowish, and
much more distinct than at the close of
the preceding stage ; the bars only
extend from the hinder end downward
to the front edge of the s;u"ne segment, not extending upon the next segment.
The spiracles are green, not ringed, but bearing two obliquely vertical parallel
twin oblong fine black dots. The
wrinkles are well marked on the dorsal
surface ; lower down the sides they
break up into raised white spots
or granulations. The suranal plate is
faintly edged with yellowish.
Stage IV.-Moulted 14 July. Length
25 to 30 mm. The head is pea-green,




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August-October 1Sgo.1 PSYCHE. 399
with a yellowish stripe on each side,
continuous with the subdorsal stripe
along the body, which is now broad
and diffuse, with a dark green shade
above it. The lateral yellowish stripes
as before. The horn is a little shorter
thiin in the preceding stage, and the
green at the base on each side en-
croaches more on the black, extending
higher, while the extremity of the horn
is tipped with green, in one specimen
distinctly so. There are eight trans-
verse wrinkles to each segment, and the
white granulations are more distinct
than before. The spiracles are white,
with two twin vertical elliptical spots
on each side nearly meeting in the
middle.
In this stage when disturbed the
caterpillar will tinn the head, and the
front past of the body, represented by
the three thoracic segments, over upon
the back of the abdominal region so
that the feet are held up vertically, as in Datana and other larvae.
Stage V.-Last stage, moulted,
21-22 J~lly. Length 54-55 mm. The
head is as in the previous stage, but
rather more angular on the sides. The
lateral yellowish line on the head is very distinct and continued as distinctly on
the thoracic segments as far as the
middle of the yd thoracic segment;
beyond this the line is indistinct on the three following segments, becoming
distinct again behind the middle of the
body.
The prothoracic segment is a little
wider than the head, and about one-half
as wide as the 3d thoracic segment.
The lateral yellowish stripes are dis-
tinct, not reaching either the front or
hinder end of the segments. The cau-
dal horn is now yellowish ; the subdor-
sal yellowish lines ending on it; it is
about one-half as long as the 8th seg-
ment is wide when seen from above,
and is finely tuberculated with dull
amber-colored warts. The upper side
of the body is yellowish-green, but the
under side is almost exactly of the hue
of the under side of the leaf of Ampe-
lopsis, being of a rich soft pea-green
and less distinctly and prominently
papillated than above. The thoracic
legs are yellowish-green.
27 or 28 July it began to contract in
length in preparation for pupation, and
it assumed the pupit state 30 July.
Duration of stage I, about 7 davs ; of
stage 11, 5 to 6 days ; of stage 111, 3 to 6 days; of stage IV, 6 to 7 clays; of
stage V and last, about 6 days ; of the
prepupal stage from 2 to 3 days. Total
duration of larval life, about 33 days.
Summary of the most impor/mz;'
changes .
I. The glandular bulbous body-hairs
disappear after stage I.
2.
The caudal horn is at the time of
hatching slightly longer than the body.
3. Faint traces of the yellowish
lateral line appear at the close of stage I, but no oblique stripes.
4. Traces of the oblique yellow
stripes appear at the end of stage 11.
5. In stage I11 the body begins to
be swollen on the three thoracic and the I st abdominal segments. All the distinc-



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400 PS2x'fivz. [ August-October 1890.
five lines and markings of the last stage are now indicated. It is also probably
the rule among the bombyces, judging
by many cases I have observed, that by
the 3d stage the larva now large and
living more conspicuously, assumes the
general shape and coloration of the fully fed caterpillar.
The life-history of Ampelo'phaga
myron ( Cramer).
Two of the larval stages have been
described by Lintner (Proc. Ent. Soc.
Phil. v. 3) the length of his youngest
larva being .so inch; the other stage
being the final one. Riley (2d Mis-
souri Rept. 71 -73) has briefly described the egg, the first and last stages. I am also indebted to Mr. James Angus for
the eggs of this sphingid which were
sent from New York at the end of June.
The larvae were hatched 2 July 1890,
and fed on Ampelopsis leaves.
Egg. - Rounded oval. Length 24
mm.
The shell, under a Tolles triplet
is smooth. It is of the same shape,
size and appearance as that of M a -
??2h inscr/pta.
Stage I.- Hatched 2 July. Length
5 mm. The larva in this stage, espec-
ially at the time of hatching is not only seen to be similar to that of Deidamia
inscripta, but is under a high power
Tolles lens not even distinguishable
from it, unless the caudal horn be
slightly shorter and less hirsute in the present species. The head is at first
larger and broader than the body, and
of the same color. Prothoracic seg-
ment with a dorsal crescentic shield or
flat surface.
The caudal horn is long,
black tind when observed under a high
power Tolles triplet, hirsute. The legs
are concolorous with the body. Behind
the base of the caudal horn both in this and D. inscrip& is a deep orange-red
discoloration or transverse streak. The
body is now wrinkled transversely
above. The hairs are glandular, and
slightly bulbous at the end.
Three days later, after feeding, and
compared with larvae of D. insert*
of the same period the body seems to be
in A. myron a little slenderer, and it
also differs in the sutures being slightly vellowish, while the head is of a paler
greenish tint. The glandular hairs are
of about the stime length as those of D. inscripta, but perhaps the tubercles are more prominent.
Stage 77.-Moulted 9 July. At first
the caudal horn is flesh-colored, after- wards turning dark. By I I July it had
grown to the length of 10 mm. And
now the caterpillar is quite different
from that of D. inscripta of the same
stage. The body is very slender, the
head slightly wider than the body.
Each segment has eight wrinkles or
folds of the skin which is also spotted
with white raised dots. The sutures
are yellowish green, contrasting with
the body. The caudal horn is pale
reddish-chestnut, becoming darker at-
the extreme tip, which is slightly but
distinctly divided at the end, each lobe bearing a bristle. There are as yet no
lines or oblique stripes visible.
Stage III? Length 17 mm. 18 July, it
had probably moulted, but I did not see




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August-October 1890. j ps Y CHE . 401
it in the act. The head is as wide as the prothoracic and middle body-segments ;
the sd thoracic and 1st abdominal seg-
ments are by this time somewl~at swol-
len. A distinct narrow white lateral line is now present, while the dorsal region
between the two lines is paler than on
the sides of the body. The head is now
rough with small pointed tubercles.
There are no lateral oblique stripes
present. The caudal horn is reddish
flesh-colored, becoming darker at the
tip.
Staye IV. Length 25 lam. Moulted
24 July.
This I suppose to be the third
moult. The head is long, somewl~at
lengthened towards the vertex, and
slightly flattened on the sides ; the sur- face is unequally tuberculated with sharp conical white tubercles arranged in irreg- ular longitudinal lines.
There is along
each side of the head a broad, yellowisl~ lateral stripe, and a faint yellowish shade along each side of the median suture.
The yellowisl~ line on the side of the
head is continued on the body as a sub-
dorsal whitish line, which is faint on the prothoracic segment ; this line behind
the middle of the 3d thoracic is formed
of a row of rather large conical tuber-
cles, it again becomes continuously
white on the 7th and 8th abdominal seg-
ments, fading out at the base of the cau- dal horn, which is whitish, with sharp,
slender black tubercles on the upper and under side of the born, the tubercles on the sides being white ; the tip of the
horn is flesh-colored, and the entire horn is nearly twice as long as the body is
thick. The spiracles are raw-sienna
brown, with a white spot at each end
of the respiratory slit above aud below. The thoracic legs are peculiarlj- spotted with black on the green base, and are
reddish cherry at the ends. All the ab-
dominal legs are greenish. The body
is thickest on the ~,d thoracic and 1st
abdominal segment. On the 2d thoracic
to the 5th abdominal segment are faint
oblique lateral whitish stripes, bearing white obliquely-arranged white tuber-
cles, those on the first three abdominal segments more distinctly underlined by
white. It died 5 Aug., when nearly
full-fed.
NOTE OX TWO SPECIES OF DATAXA.-
From my remarks after the two species
of Datana which I described, (Psyche,
v. 5, p. 299-300,') it might be inferred that they were compared with a number of allied species. I would like therefore to state that D a m modesta was compared with the type