SA/,;
S P H I N X V I T IS.
PAINTED HAWK-MOTH.
JU S S l/V .A E R E CTA. L 1,\' X
UPRIGHT ANNUAL JUSSIEUA.
S. alis integris vircfcenlibus vitli bifidi ftriifijUe albidis: pollicis ftrigi nigrl marginibufr
que fanguineis.
Sphinx Vitis. < Linn. Syfl. N at. 801. Fabr. Entom. attend.. V. 4. 36g. Drury's Inf. V. 1. *. 28. f . 1 . Cram.
Pap, t. 267. ƒ, e.
T h e caterpillar, o f this beautiful Sphinx was taken upon the flower here repre-
fented, which grows in ponds arid w e t places, in th e month o f Auguft. I t is
reiriarkable fo r haying no h om a t th e tail, only a final! protuberance. One o f them
w e n t into the ground A uguft 14th, and dame-óut the 7Ü1 o f September. Another
th a t w e n t in th e 29th o f September did n o t come o u t till th e 18 th o f Ju ly following.
Thofe th a t remain all Winter are very apt to die in the chryfalis. This is a
rare fpecies, b u t the fly may n ow and th en be feen fucking th e gourd blofloms in
an evening* I t is n o t k nown to be a native o f Virginia,
This may truly be called a beautiful infedt, and comes very near in that refpedt to Sphinx
Nerii. Mr: Abbot had named it the Tulip Sphinx, but as that might feem ambiguous, as
indicating its food to be the tulip, we have thought the name o f Painted Hawk-moth might
convey his idea more, clearly.
The food of this infedt feems to be various. It is faid to eat the Vine and the Magnolia
glauca, but the plant on which Mr. Abbot has obferved it is widely different from both.