176 FIFTH KEPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



strongly dentate. Hind wings bright yellow, median band rather narrow, gener- 

 ally rectangular at bend towards inner margin; marginal band broad, broken or 

 unbroken. Expands 70 to iSO'"™. Habitat, Nebraska to Illinois, and southward, 

 west to Arizona. Var. desdemona Hy. Edw. Wood brown with lighter shades; reni- 

 forra spot brown ; subreniform lighter. Hind wings rich orange. Var. calphiirnia 

 Hy. Edw. Fore wings with a greenish tint, lines faint. Hind wings wholly black, 

 with the exception of a central cloud, a broad marginal band, and a central narrow 

 band, which are orange. Hulet adds that the species is a very variable one, the 

 median band showing a tendency common to all the CatocaliB, as it narrows, to become 

 rectangular at the bend near the anal margin. 



244. Caiocala verrilliana Grote. 



This species extends from California to Texas, its food-plant being 

 the scrub oak. (Hulst.) 



Moth. — Fore wings gray, shaded with blackish; a diffuse black basal dash; trans- 

 verse anterior line densely shaded with black; reniforra dot small, yellowish, more 

 or less distinctly double-ringed; transverse posterior line much as in C. blandula. 

 Hind wings bright red, median black band narrow, quite even, not reaching the 

 anal margin; marginal band narrow. Expands 50 to 60'"'". C. ophelia Hy. Edw. 

 differs only in having somewhat heavier lines on the fore wings. C. verrilliana is 

 always described with bright red hind wings. C. vloleata Hy. Edw. is somewhat 

 larger and has more black. Var. votria Hulst has clear yellow hind wings, and in- 

 habits Arizona. 



245. Catocala ultronia (Hiibner). 



The caterpillar, first described in Packard's "Guide to the study of 

 Insects" (p. 317, pi. 8, fig. 4), is said to feed on the wild cherry, plum, 

 dogwood, and live oak. Mr. Saunders has bred it in Canada from the 

 plum, finding it usually less than half grown in June. One caterpillar 

 pupated June 21; it remained in this state for twenty-four days, the 

 moth appearing July 15. The larva we reared in Maine pupated July 

 15 in an earthen cocoon, the moth appearing August 2. As Mr. Saun- 

 ders's description of the caterpillar is more detailed than ours, we quote 

 it below: 



Larva. — Head medium sized, flattened in front, slightly bilobed, dull blnish gray, 

 with the front flattened portion margined with a purplish-black stripe. Under a 

 lens the surface appears thickly dotted with pale and dark-colored dots and streaks, 

 with a few short, pale, scattered hairs. Body above dark, dull, grayish brown, ap- 

 pearing under a magnifying jjower thickly studded with brownish dots on a paler 

 ground. Second segment a little paler than the others. A subdorsal row of dull 

 reddish tubercles, one on each segment from second to fourth inclusive, but behind 

 this there are two on each ring to the twelfth segment inclusive, the anterior one 

 being the smallest, while the posterior and largest tubercle is more decidedly red, all 

 encircled with a slight ring of black at their base. On the ninth segment above 

 there is a prominent, nearly upright, stout, fleshy horn, about one-twelfth inch long, 

 pointed, and similar in color to the body, but with an irregular grayish patch at 

 each side. On the twelfth segment the two hinder tubercles are somewhat increased 

 in size and united by a low ridge, tinted behind with deep reddish brown; there is 

 also an oblique stripe of the same color extending forward from the base of the 

 tubercles to near the spiracle on this segment. The terminal segment is flattened 

 and has a number of small, pale reddish and blackish tubercles scattered over its 

 surface. In front of each of the smaller subdorsal tubercles, from fifth to twelfth 



