ON CATOCALA DENUSSA AND C. HERODIAS 97 



ON CATOCALA DENUSSA AND C. HERODIAS 



(Lepidoptera, Noctuida) 

 By WILLIAM BEUTENMULLER 



Through the kindness of Mr. George A. Ehrman I recendy had the 

 opportunity of examining the type of Catocala denussa which he de- 

 scribed in the Journal of the New York Entomological Society, Vol. I, 

 p. 152, 1 893. It is verily, as Mr. Ehrman states, a very strange form 

 of Catocala, and I have never seen anything like it among the mciny 

 thousand specimens I have examined. In size, shape, and coloration of 

 the hind wings it resembles C. habilis, but the coloration and markings 

 of the fore wings are totally different. It is possibly an extreme variety, 

 or an aberration of habilis, while on the other hand it may be a distinct 

 species, and I would consider it so until we have more matericJ and evi- 

 dence at hand to prove otherwise. It is undoubtedly a rare species, as 

 was C. herodias at one time. Herodias remained unique for many years, 

 or only a few specimens were known to exist in collections, and it posed 

 as a variety of C. ultronia. Recently, however, a number of examples 

 were taken at Lakehurst, New Jersey, by several collectors, and it was 

 bred by Mr. Charles E. Sleight from a larva found on scrub oak {Quer- 

 cus nana). Thus herodias is a valid species and is allied to C. coccinata 

 and not to ultronia, which belongs to a different group. 



Catocala denussa has the fore wings dark smoky brown with the veins 

 marked with black, particularly those beyond the transverse posterior 

 line. The transverse anterior line is very narrow, sordid white, cuid three 

 times outwardly curved. The transverse posterior line is also very neir- 

 row, black, and marked with dirty brown-white outwardly. The teeth 

 opposite the cell are sharp, subequal, and thence dentate to the inner 

 margin. The subterminal line is scarcely evident. The fringes are brown 

 and whitish at the base. The reniform is round, concolorous to the 

 ground color of the wing, with a smeJl, rounded, grayish white center. 

 The subreniform is scarcely perceptible. The hind wings are orange 

 yellow with the black median band angulate and extending to the inner 

 margin. The marginal band is black, broadest at the costa, and the apex 

 of the wing is orange. The fringes are narrowly orange at the baise and 

 whitish outwardly. The head and thorax are brown, mixed with gray, 

 and the abdomen is brown. The undersides of the fore wings are dull 

 orange with two smoky brown bands, and the outer part is brown with 



