74 



which they seem to have a marked preference. He fed them in confinement and put in 

 leaves of Rebecca, Delaware, Massasoit, Concord, Creveling, Salem and Martha, but they 

 would eat only Rebecca leaves. 



The caterpillar 

 (Fig. 43) varies much 

 in colour. When 

 young it is usually 

 green with a long 

 curved horn rising 

 from the last segment 

 but one, but as it be- 

 Ffe* 43, comes more mature, 



in moulting the horn disappears, and its place is occupied by a dark polished tubercle ; the 

 colour also changes frequently to a pale straw or reddish brown, shading at the sides into 

 a rich brown. It has six irregular cream-coloured spots along each side. 



When full grown it descends to the ground, 

 and burrowing underneath, changes there into 

 chrysalis, Fig. 44, of a dark shining mahog- 

 any brown colour. 



The moth (Fig. 42), which appears towards 

 Fig- 44 - the latter end of June, is of a rich brownish- 



grey colour, variegated with light brown, and with the dark spots, shewn in the figure, 

 deep brown. The hind wings are pink, with a band of dark spots and a broad grey 

 border behind. 



Catocala ultronia. 



In the genus Catocala is included a number of very beautiful moths, many of them 

 of large size, and restricted in their dis J ribution to the northern portions of America. 

 Most of them have the hind wings red, oanded with black, and hence have received the 

 common appellation of " Red under-wings." Some few species, however, have the red 

 ground replaced by white, or by plain black, or dark brown edged with white, but these 



latter are greatly in the minority and much 

 less frequently met with than those with 

 red hind wings. The fore wings are 

 usually of varying shades of rich gray or 

 brown. 



In Catocala ultronia (Fig. 45) the fore 

 wings are of a rich umber colour, darkest 

 along the hind margin, with, a broad dif- 

 fused ash-coloured band along the middle, 

 not extending to the apex, which is brown; 

 there are also several zigzag lines of brown 

 and white crossing these wings. The hind 



Fig. 45. 



wings are deep red with a wide black band along the outer margin and a narrower band 

 of the same colour across the middle. The cilise which border the wings are partly white 

 and partly brown. 



The larva feeds on the leaves of wild plum and is also found attacking the cultivated 

 varieties. When full grown, which is about the 20th of June, it is nearly two inches 

 lon£, a leech-like creature with its body thickest in the middle and tapering towards each 

 end. When at rest it adheres so closely to the bark of the branch and so nearly resem- 

 bles it in colour, that it is difficult to detect. The body is of a dull greyish-brown, studded 

 with brownish dots and rows of dull reddish tubercles. On the top of the ninth segment 

 or ring there is a stout fleshy horn, nearly upright, about one-twelfth of an inch long, 

 pointed and similar in colour to the body, but with an irregular greyish patch at each 

 side. On the twelfth segment there is a low fleshy ridge margined behind with deep 

 reddish brown and an oblique stripe of the same colour extends forward nearly to the 



