BARNES AND McDUNNOUGH: CATOCALA 25 



The original type of califomica cannot now be found at Philadelphia. Strecker claims (Lep. Rhop. Het. Suppl., 

 Ill, p. 35) to have it in his collection but a careful search on our part through his Catocala series has failed to produce it. 

 On a recent visit to Pittsburg, we discovered among the noctuids of the Mead Collection, now in the Carnegie Museum 

 Collection, a specimen labelled "Yreka, Calif." which proved to be what has generally been known as mariana Edwards. 

 As mariana certainly possesses a great resemblance to hermia, especially in its lighter forms, and as the locality is the same 

 as that of the type, we believe that this specimen may have been one of the type lot, especially when we take into con- 

 sideration that Mead was the son-in-law of W. H. Edwards and probably the collector of the original type. We pro- 

 pose, therefore, to consider this specimen as typifying the true califomica and list mariana as a synonym. Our own collect- 

 ing experiences in the Shasta region (which is only slightly south of Yreka) would point to this identification being correct 

 or at least not improbable, for among the Catocalas collected we found that mariana was vastly predominant, the only 

 other species which might come into consideration being alius a Hulst, which was decidedly rare. 



Regarding mariana, it has already been twice pointed out that the name is preoccupied in the genus by mariana 

 Rambur; the names edwardsi Kusnezov and eldoradensis Beutenmiiller, proposed to supercede it, will both fall into the 

 synonymy. Beutenmiiller is, however, incorrect in stating (1907, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXIII, p. 148) that the 

 specimen from which Strecker's description of mariana was drawn up was a different species from that specimen which 

 served as a type to Hy. Edwards a year later. We have examined both specimens and have photographs of them before 

 us; they are simply light and dark forms of the same species, Strecker's specimen being more white-shaded before the 

 reniform and approaching more closely to hermia in general appearance than does Hy. Edwards' type specimen, which 

 agrees better with the figure on plate V, figure 1. We have bred both forms from ova laid by a single female from Truckee, 

 California, and the long series from various localities before us show each to be about equally common. 



The larva is very similar to that of briseis; apart from a rather deeper brown ground-color, there is nothing whereby 

 it might be distinguished. 



The species extends from Vancouver Island and the British Columbian mainland southward through the Cascades 

 and the Sierras to central California and appears to be one of the commonest species throughout this territory. 



Catocala francisca Hy. Edwards 

 Plate XX, figs. 19 and 20 (claspers). 

 Catocala mariana var. francisca Hy. Edwards, 1880, Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc, III, p. 57. 



Beutenmiiller has given no figure of this species, which may be merely a form or race of the preceding. The types 

 were collected in Humboldt County, California; we have a few specimens which agree with these types but bear no further 

 label than " California." We doubtfully refer here a single specimen from the Yosemite Valley and another one from the 

 vicinity of San Francisco. These specimens appear to be larger and more robust than califomica and show a peculiar 

 greenish tinge over the rather unicolorous dark primaries. Until further specimens are available and the life-history 

 can be worked out, we prefer to treat this as a good species. 



Catocala hermia Hy. Edwards 



Plate V, figs. 2 and 11; PL XX, figs. 15 and 16 (claspers). 



Catocala hermia Hy. Edwards, 1880, Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc, II, p. 93. 



Catocala hermia form vesta Barnes and McDunnough, 1918, The Lepidopterist, II, pp. 9-11. 



Figure 11 of plate V is only doubtfully referred here; Beutenmiiller lists it as califomica but we have already referred 

 to his misidentification of this species. Figure 2 represents the dark form, which is typical; the form with even blue- 

 gray primaries we have named vesta. 



Dyar's description of the larva from Placer County, California, (Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash. IV, p. 327) should probably 

 be referred to califomica. Our own knowledge of the larva is that it is so close to that of briseis as scarcely to be separable; 

 the imagines, however, are quite distinct and can be separated easily by the nature of the scaling around the reniform 

 and beyond the t. p. line, which in hermia shows scarcely a trace of vertical ribbing. 



