NOCTUAS. 



465 



the antennae are slightly pubescent in the 

 male, simple in the female : the costal margin 

 of the fore wings is nearly straight for about 

 two-thirds of its length, and then curved very 

 decidedly to the tip ; the hind margin is scal- 

 loped, but not deeply so ; their colour is dark 

 gray tinged with ochreous and marbled with 

 darker markings; the reniform is distinct and 

 dark ; the orbicular absent : the hind wings 

 are red, with a narrow median, and broad hind- 

 marginal black band ; the hind -marginal 

 fringe is white, the inner marginal fringe 

 light brown ; the head and thorax are marbled 

 with the same colour as the fore wings ; the 

 body is gray -brown and glossy. 



The CATERPILLAR has all the peculiarities of 

 form described under Catocala Fraxini : the 

 head is broader than the second, third, or 

 fourth segment ; the body is very flat below 

 and convex above ; its colour is ashy-gray, 



and has two irregular, interrupted, and waved 

 dorsal stripes rather darker than the ground- 

 colour, but these are sometimes absent ; the 

 ventral surface is glaucous, with a black spot 

 on each segment : it feeds on the crack-willow 

 (Salix fragUis), and when closely adherent 

 to the bark is almost impossible to detect : I 

 have sometimes found it by passing my hand 

 gently over the surface of the bark about a 

 foot below the branches of a pollard willow, 

 when its cold, soft feel at once betrayed it. 

 It spins a network cocoon among the leaves 

 or in a crevice of the bark about midsummer, 

 ana changes to a smooth CHRYSALIS covered 

 with purple bloom. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in August 

 and September, and has been taken in some 

 abundance in all the southern and south- 

 eastern counties of England. (The scientific 

 name is Catocala nupta.) 



717. The Dark Crimson Underwing (Catocala sponsa). 



717. THE DARK CRIMSON UNDERWING. 

 'The palpi are porrected and slightly curved 

 upwards, the second joint densely covered 

 with scales, the terminal joint erect and 

 nearly naked; the antennae are slightly 

 pubescent in the male, simple in the female ; 

 the fore wings are nearly straight along the 

 costal margin, but slightly arched towards 

 the tip, and scalloped on the hind margin ; 



their colour is a rich ochreous-gray with a 

 decidedly ochreous patch in the region of the 

 reniform, and including that spot, which is 

 clearly defined ; the orbicular is absent, but 

 there is a distinct and bright ochreous spot 

 immediately below the reniform, having a 

 black circumscription : the general area is 

 beautifully and richly marbled, the hind wings 

 are crimson with a .narrow but sharply-angled 



M 30 



