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42 Blanchard: Syssphinx food plants Vol.18: no.l
it, its novelty was soon apparent, for alternating with brilliant blue upperside was sooty gray underside. It was only moderately active, staying by the roadside following the habits of the other puddle visitors. Its condition after capture was so nearly perfect that it must have emerged from the chrysalis just that morning. This rules out the possibility of it being a windblown stray, although it has been suggested that since the park is a camping spot and tourist attraction, it may have been casually introduced by travellers. Although this explanation at first seems rather far-fetched, the occurence of lygdamus there is in itself far-fetched, and thus, it is the only reasonable explanation besides the chance that it simply may have been overlooked previously. Knowing the number of collectors in my vicinity that are in the field at this time of year, the latter case is far from impossible, though.
The most distinctive character of the specimen is the rather uniform slate-gray underside darkened slightly at the base of the wings. The postmedian band of spots is jet black surrounded by white rings. The spots on the forewing are slightly larger than those on the hindwing. Above, the specimen displays the characteristic bright silver blue of the males with a narrow black marginal band and white fringes. Wing-span is exactly one inch.
C. J. Kennedy, 942 Elmont Lane, Crestwood 26, Mo., U. S. A.
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THE FOOD PLANTS OF SYSSPHINX HE1LIGBRODTI (SATURNIIDAE) IN TEXAS
The early stages of Syssphinx (Bouvierina) heiligbrodti hubbardi (Dyar) have been described in a beautifully illustrated paper (Bull, so. Calif, acad. sci 46: 72-77; 1947), by Dr. John A. Comstock who reared it, ab ovo, on Mesquite. I reared the type race, S. heiligbrodti heiligbrodti (Harvey), ab ovo, in 1962 and found that the larvae accept equally well the following three plants: Prosopis glandulosa Torr. (Mesquite), Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd. (Huisache), and Acacia rigidula Benth. (Black Bush Acacia).
In Texas S. heiligbrodti extends at least over the area south of a line going from Port Lavaca to Bastrop and from there to Del Rio. It is quite common in the southernmost part of its range, from May until October.
Greasewood (Larrea divaricata Cav.) (Creosote Bush) has been reported several times as being the food plant. Considering that S. heiligbrodti is rare or absent in western Texas where Greasewood is extremely abundant, this point should be checked.
Andre Blanchard, 3023 Underwood, Houston, Texas 77025, U. S. A.
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