MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 



449. 



This gorgeous king of the night has been found from Maine to Brazil, and Walker 

 states that it has been " caught off the coast of Brazil, one hundred and twenty miles 

 due east of Espirito Santo." The caterpillar and food plant are unknown. 



The genus Catocala includes a large number of species of great interest and 

 beauty. Many of the species have beautifully colored hind wings, which, however, 

 are entirely concealed by the others when they are at rest. They fly only by night, 

 passing the day, generally, it is said, upon the trunks or branches of trees, whose bark 

 their fore wings resemble in color so much that they are not easily seen. Occasionally, 

 however, the gray-winged species may be found concealed on fences. North America 

 seems to be the great metropolis of these moths, for a larger number of species has 

 been found here than in all other parts of the world together. 



The red under-wing, Catocala nupta, of Europe, expands about three inches. 

 The fore wings are gray, with the usual spots and lines of a darker gray. The hind 

 wings are red, with a bi"oad black border and a broad, though much indented, black 



Fig. 567. 



I UlliUl- 



central band. Of our American species we can mention only the plum-tree Catocala, 

 Catocala ultronia, which expands about two inches and a half. The fore wings are of 

 a rich umber-brown color, darkest on the hind mai-gin", with a broad, diffused, ash- 

 colored band along the middle. The usual lines crossing the wings are brown, and 

 very zig-zag. The hind wings are deep red, with a broad black band along the outer 

 margin, and a much narrower one, of the same color, across the middle. The cater- 

 pillar feeds on the leaves of the plum, and when mature is about an inch and a half in 

 length, tapering from the middle segments towards each end. 



Drasteria erechtea is an extremely common moth in all parts of this country. It is 

 one of the earliest on the wing, and specimens of the second brood are often found 

 quite late in the autumn. It frequents open, grassy fields; and, though flying freely 

 by night, it may be started up in the daytime, when it will make a short, rapid flight, 

 and alight suddenly. The wings of the moth expand about an inch and a half, and 

 are comparatively wide. The fore wings are grayish brown, with darker bands and 

 dots. One band crosses the wing from the basal third of the costa, and at right angles 

 "with it; another starts from the costa half way between the last one and the apex, and 

 VOL. II. — 29 . . 



