An entomology lesson

 I would have thought that the caterpillars that are devouring our tomato plants were tomato hornworms, rather than tobacco hornworms.

But tomato hornworms, Manduca quinquemaculata, have blue or black horns. M. sexta, tobacco hornworms, have red horns. The enormous green, tomato-plant eaters I’m looking at have red horns.

These caterpillars become a moth known as the Carolina sphinx. The moths are beautiful. I’d enjoy seeing them.

It was an odd day in my education. I learned something about entomology but failed the ethics test. I learned that, when it comes to tomatoes, I am surprisingly reluctant to share.