258 THE entomologist's record. 



fringes are of the same dull blackish tint. The right hind- wing is 

 quite normal, and shows no melanic tendency whatever. The left fore- 

 wing is normal towards the costa and apex, but is blackened towards 

 the inner margin from the anal angle to the base. Similarly the left 

 hind- wing is normal in its upper part, but the lower half is almost 

 entirely melanic, and the fringes agree in tint with that part of the 

 wing to which they are adjacent. On the underside the right fore-wing 

 (nomenclature as above) has a fine short black streak just below the 

 apex, and a black patch from the anal angle half-way along the inner 

 margin, the fringes alternately light and dark ; the left fore-wing has a 

 longitudinal streak almost filling up the discoidal cell, and continued 

 from it as a fine line to the outer margin. The underside of the hind- 

 wings proves most interesting, for, although the melanic patches and 

 lines are limited to the discoidal cell and the margin directly beyond, 

 they are of a dense opaque nature, entirely different from the blackness 

 of the upperside, the yellow scales overlying this thick blackening in 

 some places. The left hind-wing beneath has, however, in addition, a 

 dull black streak extending from the discoidal cell to the outer margin. 

 One of the antennas was unfortunately broken ofi" in photographing 

 the specimen, and is now fastened on with the upper surface down- 

 wards. This only in explanation of the absence of this antenna. 

 In reality, the antennae are quite normal. 



Observations on the genus Catocala : Catocala coelebs, C. elocata. 



By E. M. DADD. 



The genus Catocala belongs to the sub-family Quadrifinas of the 

 superfamily Noctuides. It is a widely distributed genus, occurring 

 in Europe, Asia (to Japan and Ceylon), North Africa, North and Soutli 

 America. It is most abundant in North America, where more than 

 tlii'ee-fourths of the present known species occur. The Palaearctic 

 area possesses about 30 species. 



The Catocalid ovum is roimd, conical above, flattened beneath, and 

 somewhat depressed on the micropyle. The majority have numerous 

 vertical ribs, about a third of which reach to the micropylar area, 

 the remainder joining these about two-thirds of the way up. Some- 

 times as many as five of these ribs combine before reaching the micropyle. 

 There are also numerous, very fine, transverse ribs. C. sponsa, C. 

 promissa (and most probably their allies, C. diversa, C. dula, C. con- 

 jimcta, etc.), are, however, remarkable exceptions, and what is still 

 more curious, the eggs of the two former differ as much from each 

 other as they do from those of the rest of the genus, for whereas they 

 both retain the general shape of the egg of the genus (that of G. 

 promissa being, however, somewhat oval) , the egg of C. promissa has 

 very coarse, vertical and transverse, ribs, the intermediate spaces being 

 somewhat sunken in, giving the ovum a very curious netted appearance, 

 while that of C. sponsa is almost perfectly smooth, with numerous 

 minute raised points all over it, probably the last remnants of the ribs. 



The Catocalid larva, on emerging from the egg, is very long and 

 slender ; the 1st and 2nd abdominal segments are much elongated, the 

 3rd and 4th less so. The prolegs are developed on the 5th, 6th and last 

 abdominal segments only, those which appear later on the 3rd and 4th 



