212 POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY. 



CATOCALA FBAXINI. Clifden Nonpareil. This very 

 handsome species sometimes measures four inches; the 

 upper wings are light grey, marked with undulating lines of 

 brown ; the under wings are hrownish-black, with a broad 

 curved band of light blue across the middle ; they are also 

 deeply indented. The caterpillar is ash-coloured, rather 

 inclining to yellow, and sprinkled with minute black dots ; 

 the head is green, and the eighth segment has a protube- 

 rance of a bluish-black colour ; behind this is an oblique 

 black line ; it lives on the ash, oak, elm, poplar, etc. This 

 species is not so common as the following, and a good 

 specimen is a valuable acquisition. 



CATOCALA NUPTA. (Plate XIV.) Red Underwing. 

 Upper wings dark grey, with transverse waved streaks and 

 spots of brown and yellow ; the hinder border has a series 

 of crescent-shaped spots, and two waved dusky lines ; the 

 under wings are of a deep carmine-red, with a curved black 

 band near the middle, and a broad marginal band of the 

 same : the under side of the superior wings is black, with 

 three transverse bands of white, the outer one forming an 

 acute angle near the inner margin. The caterpillar is narrow 

 at both ends ; the colour grey, marked with brown, greenish 

 underneath, spotted with black, and a row of small tubercles 



