XX.xiii, '22 ! ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 



Catocala ulalume a Distinct Species (Lepid., 

 Noctuidae). 



By G. H. FRENCH, Herrin, Illinois. 



In his number for September, 1877, of Lcpidoptera Rho- 

 paloccrcs and Hctcroccres, Mr. Herman Strecker described 

 Catocala ulalituie, on page 132. We know that Mr. Strecker's 

 descriptions were not of much account as far as using them 

 1;\ some one else for future identification of specimens, and 

 yet a few expressions in this description may serve to help us 

 in the recognition of, and separation of, this species from the 

 specimens of the variable species C. lacrymosa where it has 

 been placed for a number of years. 



In the description he compares C. ulalume with C. dcsperata 

 (now C. vidita) in color, and says that the brown shade beyond 

 the t. p. line of C. dcsperata is absent in C. ulalume. In all of 

 the forms of C. lacrymosa this brown shade is present. Another 

 characteristic of C. lacrymosa is that near the posterior margin 

 of the primaries is a prominent white shade inside the t. a. and 

 outside the t. p. lines. This is absent in both C. dejecta and 

 C. ulalume. The ground color of C. dejecta is a little lighter 

 bluish gray than that of C. ulahnne, and there are other mark- 

 ings that separate them. 



Both C. ulalume and C. dejecta used to be found in the hills 

 of Union County, Illinois, and specimens of each were sent to 

 Mr. Strecker for identification soon after his description of the 

 two species, but my specimens of both have been destroyed. 

 Of late the species, or rather both of them, have been found 

 in the hills of Green County, southwestern Missouri, by my 

 friend, Mr. A. E. Brower. Two specimens of C. ulalume were 

 compared with the types in the Strecker collection in the Field 

 Museum, Chicago, by Mr. W. J. Gerhard and pronounced 

 identical. 



The species has a clear bluish color over the whole wing 

 except the whitish shade beyond the t. p. line that is without 

 any brown. In the Barnes book, Fig. n. Plate 2, the whole 

 wing is suffused with brown. I do not know what that figure 

 represents. The subreniform is open in C. ulalmnc but is 



