MAKING A FIRST ACQUAINTANCE. 259 



times has two black waved stripes on the back. I 

 never saw this caterpillar, but Mr. Newman's account 

 of its habits is so admirable that I transfer it to these 

 pages : 



' It feeds on the Crack Willow (Satix fragilis] 

 and, 1 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, and changes to a smooth 

 chrysalis covered with a purple bloom.' 



The perfect insect appears about August ; and 

 though it may be common, it is not often seen, owing 

 to its mode of concealment. It carries into its perfect 

 state one of its caterpillar habits, and has a way of 

 settling on the trunks of'willow trees and closing its 

 wings. In this position the splendid red under wings 

 are completely hidden by the sombrely tinted upper 

 pair, which so exactly resemble the colour of the bark 

 that, even when the Moth is pointed out, very few 

 can distinguish it. I well remember the first time of 

 discovering one of these beautiful Moths. I was going 

 to bathe in the river Chenvell, near Oxford, a stream 

 which is bordered with willows. I happened to place 

 my hand on the trunk of one of the willows, when out 

 bounced a grand Red Underwing, startling me as 

 much as a novice in shooting is startled by his first 

 pheasant. I afterwards found that the Moths were 

 tolerably plentiful upon these trees. 



The generic name Catocala is formed from the 



S 2 



