14 BULLETIN BROOKLYN ENTOM. SOC. VOL. VII. June 1884.] 
THE GENUS CATOCALA. 
By Rev. Gro. D. Hutsr. 
In the Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entom. Soc., vol. III, pp. 2—13; 
1880, was published an article entitled “Remarks upon the Catocale of 
N, A. North of Mexico with a catalogue of the species.” 
The study prefatory to the publishing of that article, led to an 
interest in the genus, which has resulted in continued effort to attain 
knowledge of these most beautiful insects. At the request of some of my 
entomological friends, the study during a few months past has taken a 
form looking to the present monograph. 
The genus Ca/ocalz embraces insects which are among the largest, 
most showy, and most interesting of the Noctuide. The genus is one 
of the Northern Hemisphere, is largely represented in Europe, Asia and 
America, and very sparingly in the North of Africa. Our own species 
surpass all others in number, size and variability of coloration. 
Of the egg of our species, we know little more than has been given 
us in the careful and very valuable observations of Prof. Geo. H. French 
of Carbondale, Ils. He has in ‘‘Papilio”, and the Can. Ent., given the 
life history of cara, amatrix and fia. The eggs of these species very 
nearly agree in being spheroidal in shape, —grooved longitudinally with 
many furrows,—flattened at apex and base, the flattened surface at the 
base being somewhat the larger, I have taken eggs from the abdomens 
of cabinet specimens of various species, (nubiles, elonympha, ultromia, 
paria, lacrymosa), and found them to agree, so far as I could judge, with 
the eggs spoken of above. The eggs remain unhatched, so far as Prof. 
French’s observations go, until the following spring after being laid. 
With the possible exception of zuézls, I feel certain that no species is 
double brooded. Mr. A, Koebele of Washington I).C. obtained eggs 
of Chntoni in Florida, as early as March, but the larvee did not emerge 
until the following year, in June, the eggs having been brought North 
mean-while. With regard to elonympha, all testimony leads to the con- 
clusion that it is not double brooded. Vwéz/s is found at almost all times 
after early summer, and it may be true that more than one brood of it 
appears each year but I do not believe this at all probable. The insects 
under the observations of Prof. French remained in the egg state from 
about 180 to 250 days; those of Ctinfoni obtained by Mr. Koebele 
hatched only after 15 months had passed! 
