TUE DARK CRIMSON UNDERWING MOTH. 135 



collection of insects lies in the hunting and 

 rearing them, and watching their habits, before 

 they are consigned to the cabinet ; and those who 

 fill their cabinets with purchased specimens not 

 only lose all the pleasure attending the right 

 pursuit of entomology, and deprive themselves of 

 the sound knowledge which they ought to have 

 gained, but do their best, however unwittingly, 

 to degrade a most important branch of Natural 

 History into a mere itch of collecting for collect- 

 ing's sake. 



OUR next example of this fine genus is the 

 DARK CRIMSON UNDERWING (Catocala sponsa), 

 a figure of which is given on Plate IX. fig. 6. 



The colours of this splendid insect are singu- 

 larly beautiful, even the comparatively sombre 

 hues of the upper wings being so rich in tint, 

 and so beautifully disposed, that they would 

 have caused the insect to rank among our hand- 

 somest moths, even had the hues of the lower 

 wings been of the same hues. 



The ground-colour of the upper wings is soft, 

 creamy grey, in many specimens having a tinge 

 of yellow in it just that tint which belongs to 

 the purest butter. The whole of the surface is 

 covered with marbled patterns of dark brown, 



