CATOCALA PROMISSA. 127 



sixteenths in diameter across the thorax, which is 

 rounded and sloping smoothly to the head in a convex 

 curve ; behind, on the back of the abdomen, is a slight 

 depression, the wing-covers smooth, and from them 

 the abdomen is full, but soon tapers rather sharply to 

 the tip, which is rough and furnished with several 

 converging, curled-topped spines ; the colour of the 

 skin is purplish-brown, the abdominal divisions dingy 

 red, though this local colouring can only be seen on 

 parts that happen to be rubbed, as the surface 

 generally is covered with a fine, opaque, powdery, 

 bluish bloom ; a few short, fine, light brown, bristly 

 hairs, pointing behind, are sparingly distributed over 

 the abdomen. (W. B., December 2nd, 1876 ; E.M.M., 

 XIII, 233, March, 1877.) 



Gatooala sponsa. 

 Plate CV, fig. 2. 



In August, 1865, I captured at sugar a moth of 

 this species, which proved to be a female, and she 

 obligingly laid a few eggs on oak twigs and the sides 

 and leno cover of her cage, after being fed for a fort- 

 night with moistened sugar. 



The eggs were circular and - rather depressed, 

 smooth and shining, olive-brown, some of them semi- 

 transparent and mottled with darker brown, showing 

 a whitish ring near the margin and a narrow blackish 

 ring within it ; these last, as the sequel proved, were 

 fertile, and the others barren. 



In April, 1866, the young larvse hatched just as the 

 oak buds and blossoms began to appear and on which 

 they fed, preferring the blossoms, though, after their 

 second moult, they readily partook of the leaves. 



When first hatched they were blackish-brown, with 

 a few paler blotches, long in proportion, looping with 

 much activity in their progression, often standing 

 erect on their anal legs with a tremulous motion of 



