March, '09! ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 129 



light gray, with darker markings. The dorsal light gray band 

 of alternately expanded and contracted portions with irregu- 

 larly shaded hlack spots above the lateral band of light gray. 

 Above the pro-legs and true legs is a line of narrow black lun- 

 ules. On top of the first abdominal segment is a large trian- 

 gular (angle pointed toward the head) white spot. A lateral 

 row of setae just above the true and prolegs. Head gray, with 

 a lateral black dash passing entirely around. A black dot on 

 each side of the head inside the black dashes. The true and 

 pro-legs are gray, with white dots. 



After the fifth moult the larva of ilia has a general ground 

 color of light gray, with darker irregular longitudinal mark- 

 ings. The tubercles slightly yellow at the tip. Prolegs and feet 

 light gray and dotted with black. Head gray, mottled with 

 brown. A slight lateral darker dash. Larva decidedly flat. 

 Underside, a beautiful pink, with the characteristic black spots. 

 The lateral setae are short. The mid-lateral, longitudinal band, 

 irregular and the lightest shade on the body. The dorso-lateral 

 tubercles on the first abdominal segment as well as the fifth are 

 stronger than the others. I failed to secure a pupa from the 

 ilia larvae, the last two dying when fully mature. Mr. E. A. 

 Dodge informs me that the food plant of ilia is burr-oak. I 

 tried to feed them through on chinquapin oak. 



On the 25th of April, in company with Mr. E. A. Dodge, I 

 collected 50 larvae of Catocala illecta. on honey locust sprouts. 

 These varied in size from half an inch in length to quite two 

 inches. Mr. Dodge found quite as many, and together we got 

 six or seven small larvae of C. inintbcns from' the same plants. 



The larva of illecta is unlike that of any other Catocala larva 

 with which I am acquainted. Its colors make it very conspicu- 

 ous and it must suffer much from parasitic enemies. The full- 

 grown larva has a longitudinal white band below the spiracles. 

 A dark brown, almost black body color crossed by narrow, ir- 

 reguar white lines and with a spiracular row of red-brown spots 

 (one to the segment) and another lateral (sub-dorsal) row of 

 somewhat more pronounced red-brown spots, two to the seg- 

 ment. The red spots on the thoracic segments often coalesce 

 forming cross bands of red. Head dove color, with three lat- 



