Sept., 'o6] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 233 



Alone, one hot day in August, we were tramping along the 

 south hillside, when a large moth flew from the very base of a 

 hickory, straight down the hill toward the bottom. So yellow 

 did he look at the first glance that we decided it must be an to. 

 He was so suspicious of our actions that he would not allow a 

 near approach, but a second glimpse convinced us that he was 

 a Catocala, but we could not determine him specifically. To 

 follow him was an easy matter, both because of his size and 

 bright color when on the wing. We were so near him once 

 that we had the top of the cyanide jar off and were about ready 

 to make a final move when he was off again like an arrow. 



After that, though we followed him to the head of the hol- 

 low, we were unable to get near him, and finally darting away 

 with several innubens, he was lost altogether. It was the 

 bitterest disappointment of the season, and even now it makes 

 us sick at heart to think what a treasure was almost in our 

 grasp only to slip away. If we had been nervous when we 

 trapped a cara or a vidua, we had a real spell of "buck ager" 

 when the great yellow moth led us the chase up the little val- 

 ley. It was the most conspicuous Catocola we ever saw. 



At one particularly dark spot beneath a half up-rooted tree 

 base, on the bank of the little brook, we always found a fine 

 cara awaiting us. Day after day we took a fresh one there. 

 Once two were within three inches of each other, but the cap- 

 ture of one frightened away the other, so our faithful old tree 

 could never promise us more than one a trip. 



A single specimen of C. uxor was taken on an oak trunk by 

 our companion, Mr. Ralph Rowley, on one August trip. 



Anyone who has collected Catocala by daylight knows that 

 the insect rests with its head down on the bark, the front wings 

 entirely covering the treacherously colored hind ones. 



With wings half erect, exposing the highly colored second- 

 aries and head up instead of down when he is on the alert or 

 frightened, the chances of placing the mouth of the cyanide 

 bottle over the wary moth are few. Once thoroughly fright- 

 ened a Catocala is hard to catch. 



The tree trunks should be closely inspected before using a 

 stick to dislodge any unobserved moths, as chases after fright- 



