THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 115 



NOTES ON THE EARLY STAGES OF CATOCAL^. 



BV G. M. AND E. A. DODGE, LOUISIANA, MO. 



Catocala obscuva, Strecker. — Larvte taken under hickory bark. Food- 

 plant hickory. Described June ist, 1903. 



General colour, gray with pale brown and black markings. 



No transverse band and no elevation of eighth segment. 



Head broad as first segment, flattened, gray, with a black dash on 

 each cheek, extending from mouth two-thirds of the way to top of head, 

 and ending in a point. 



Tubercles white, but not prominent ; the dorsal tubercles being in a 

 brownish stripe that is fairly distinct the entire length. 



There are a {^w black spots along the outer edge of this stripe 

 sometimes extended as short lines ; and on the posterior part of the fourth 

 and fifih rings shading inwardly and forming small triangular'patches at 

 the inner boundary of the stripe. The dorsum is gray with a faint 

 central line. The gray portion has a wavy outline, form.ing somewhat 

 oval patches, most conspicuous between the segments. 



There is a narrow brown stigraatal stripe, distinct and of even width 

 throughout. Stigmata black and in the lower edge of this stripe. No 

 filaments. The eleventh ring is slightly raised and marked with black 

 posteriorly. Venter greenish, with central spots on segments four, five, 

 six, seven, ten and eleven. Legs pale. 



In the Canadian Entomologist, Vol. XXXHL, page 225, we 

 described the larva of a Catocala, determined by us as C. Obscura, Strk. 

 This, however, was the form having dark fringe on the posteriors, and 

 which is properly known as C. residua, Grt. 



It is not uncommon to find this dark-fringed form under the name 

 obscura in collections, and this error will be confirmed and more widely 

 diffused through the publication of Dr. Holland's Moth Book, in which 

 the same mistake is made. 



The following extract from our description above referred to is 

 given for comparison . 



" Colour dusky gray. Head broad, but not high, whitish, with pale 

 brown markings and a small, ill-defined black blotch at corners of mouth. 



" The dorsal stripe is interrupted on fourth to ninth segments, 

 inclusive, by black curved patches that occupy the space between the 

 dorsal tubercles, and opening backward enclose ' white, cone-shaped 

 patches, apex forward and truncate behind." 



