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NOTES UPON SPHINX CATALPÆ AT COALBURGH, W. VA.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

W. H. Edwards
Affiliation:
Coalburgh, W. VA.

Extract

I never had seen the imago of this species until the present year, and never saw the larva before 1896. Mr. Bruce tells me that it is a common species in parts of the Southern States, and that the eggs are laid in clusters, and the caterpillars are gregarious. In this paper I give simply my own observations. Early in August, 1896, I was asked what caterpillars were defoliating in Catalpa trees at Charleston, W. VA. It was said that some trees were completely stripped. I was unable to answer the question, as no caterpillar was shown to me. On my return home, I looked at my own Catalpa trees, and the first one that I happened on gave me a score or more of larva, one or two on a leaf, on the lower leaves of the tree. These larvae were three to four inches long, and evidently had passed their last moult. One young tree, perhaps ten feet in height, with a top six feet in diameter, had been completely stripped of leaves. I found a single caterpillar of Catalpœ on it, to shown what had done the mischief. I put the larvæ into a large flowerpot trvo-thirds filled with earth, and got, in a few days, some forty pupæ. Supposing these would go over to next year, I buried a few, and sent the rest to Mr. Bruce. In about two weeks he discovered that the imagoes had come out of his pupæ, and on examining mine the same result appeared.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1898

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