POPLAR CATERPILLARS. 465 
42. Catocala amatrix Htibner. 
The caterpillar of this moth was found by Dr. Kellicott under a large- 
toothed aspen (Populus grandidentata), on which it had probably been 
feeding, as Mr. Fischer, of Buffalo, the following summer bred this 
moth from caterpillars found on the Lombardy poplar. Prof. G. II. 
French has also bred it on leaves of the cottonwood and Lombardy pop- 
lar. In pupating they spun the leaves together, lining them with a 
very thin cocoon of silk. He thus remarks on the egg-laying habits 
of this species : 
October 14, 1882, a female C. amatrix was brought to me, from which I obtained the 
next day 261 eggs. These began hatching May 3, 1883, and continued hatching to 
June 21, making the egg-period from 200 to 249 days. Only the few that hatched 
first were fed, and the greater part of these failed to reach maturity, owing mainly 
to a form of bacterial disease that has prevailed in most of the species of caterpillars 
which I have attempted to raise this ytar, and it has not been confined to the breed- 
ing cages, but has been as destructive in the fields. Two imagines were raised, one 
pupating June 21 and producing the imago July 25, the other pupating July 8 and 
hatching August 3. This gives us a minimum period of 277 days from the egg to the 
imago. I am of the opinion that all our species [of Catocala] are single- brooded. 
Hulst gives the willow as also its food-plant, but his authority is not 
given. 
The following account of the transformations are copied from Pro- 
fessor French (Papilio, iv, p. 8) : 
Egg.— Somewhat spheroidal in shape, in longitudinal diameter being .02 inch and 
the transverse .035 inch. They are ridged longitudinally, 14 of these reaching the 
punctured area of the apex, these alternating with shorter ones that do not reach so 
far. The base is scarcely more flattened than the apex. Color very pale dull olive. 
Duration of this period from 200 to 249 days. 
Young larva.— Length .12 inch. Color brown, one dorsal and three lateral stripes 
a little darker than the rest of the body, hairs and head concolorous, the number of 
feet 12. Toward the close of this period the sides are more of a brownish yellow 
with four reddish brown stripes, the lower or substigmatal not clearly discernible at 
first, and on the venter dark brown spots in the center of joints 4 and 8. Duration 
of this period six days. 
After first molt.— Length, .35 inch. Color of the dorsum brownish butf, the sides 
dark purplish brown ; by transmitted light it may be seen divided into four more or 
less distinct lines, the pale alternate lines narrow and faint. Head brown, not very 
dark, with faint traces of lines. Scarcely a trace of the center of the dorsum being 
lighter than the rest of the dorsum. Venter pale, joints four to eight, with each a 
central black spot. First and second abdominal legs about one-fourth the size of the 
others. Duration of this period four days. 
After second molt. — Length, .65 inch. More striped than before, a dorsal stripe 
somewhat moniliform, the center purplish brown on a yellow field or the outer part 
of the stripe yellow. Subdorsal line yellow ; between this and the dorsal stripe a 
stripe the color of the center of the dorsal stripe. Joint 8 a little raised, and all but 
the center blackish. Subdorsal region with two stripes, the upper like the second 
dorsal, the lower almost black; the substigmatal line and the one separating the 
two stripes gray. The head striped with a number of blackish longitudinal liues-. 
Thoracic feet yellow, the others yellow with a black base. The black is a purplish 
black and not clear. Venter pale yellow, with the usual black spots. Duration of 
this period three days. 
5 ENT 30 
