CATOCALA AM ASIA. Abbot & Smith. 
Phalcena Amasia, Lep. Georgia, Vol. II, p. 178, t. 90, upper figure, (1797). 
Catocala Amasia, Duncan, Nat. Lib. Ent., Vol. VII, p. 205, t. 26, (1841). 
Catoccda Amasia, Cruenee, Noct., Vol. Ill, 103, (1852). 
(PLATE IX, FIG. 12, j$.) 
Expands 1^ to If inches. 
Head and thorax pale grey and white, with black marks ; abdomen yellowish; beneath yellowish white. 
Upper surface; primaries white, transverse lines black and distinct, reniform and sub-reniform distinctly 
defined by black lines, space from the transverse posterior line to the exterior margin brownish, traversed from 
costa to inner margin by a narrow white zig-zag baud. 
Secondaries yellow, marginal band broken about two-thirds in from the costa, but replaced with a spot at 
the anal angle ; median band narrow and nearly straight, and discontinued some distance from the abdominal 
margin. 
Under surface yellow, darkest at bases and at inner half of secondaries; a marginal and median band of 
ordinary width extending from costa to inner margin ; of the sub-basal band, an almost imperceptible shade is 
all that is noticeable, at least in the examples I have or have access to; perhaps in large suites there may occur 
examples in which this band may be more distinct. Bands of secondaries same as on upper side. 
Habitat. Virginia, Georgia, Florida, and other of the Southern States. Rare. 
According to Abbot, the caterpillar is grey, with darker lines laterally, and its food various kinds of oaks, 
but that it also was found on the Pride of China, (Melia Azedarack, L.), that it spun the beginning of May 
and came out the end of the same month. 
On the lower part of Abbot’s plate 90, where this insect was first represented, there is another species 
which purports to be its female, and which is found not only in the south, but as far north, to my knowledge, 
as Rhode Island; it is a species of the same size as Amasia, and was described as C. Formula * ; in a succeed- 
ing plate it will also be delineated. 
The nearest European representative of Amasia is C. Nymphagoga,f but the similarity exists principally 
in size and markings, as the upper side of primaries in the latter are dark, whilst in our species they are white, 
but the style of ornamentation, arrangement of bands, etc., are very similar. 
But few examples of C. Amasia find their way into collections, owing to the non-residence of collectors or 
Lepidopterists in the Southern States, and, however speculative and enterprising a people the Americans may 
be, they have not yet found a way to make the natural sciences pecuniarily remunerative ; and in this respect, 
as well as in some others, we need not be ashamed to learn something from the old country. 
A FEW WORDS ON THE CATOCALA NOMENCLATURE. 
I have a sort of old-fashioned respect for the way the fathers of science used to name these things ; for 
instance, the Catocalae all had amatory names, relating to love or marriage, Amatrix, Cara, Relicta, etc., etc. 
Of course these terms would soon be exhausted, and, in fact, have been ; then, names that would in a great 
measure keep up the connection would naturally be next selected, and the most appropriate ones for the purpose 
would be those of women famous in ancient history for their lust or talents, or both combined, as in the case 
of C. Messalina,! C. Helena § and C. Briseis,|| of later authors, and it might be well to continue in the same 
plan. Of upwards of forty species found in Europe and Siberia, none had the names of any scientist, ancient 
or modern, bestowed upon them, though such names as Lederer, Felder, Hewitson and Mosehler will, never- 
theless, stand whilst printing or science endure. But to us progressive Americans it is owing that the 
harmony of the Catocala Nomenclature has been broken ; Edwards first, with his C. Walshii, and then Grote 
* Grote & Robinson, Proc. Ent. Soc., Phil., Vol. VI, p. 27, (1866). 
f Esper, Schmett., 105, 5, (1787), 
t Catocala Messalina, Guenee, Noctuelites, III, p. 105, (1852). 
2 Catocala Helena, Eversmann, Bull. Mos., II, (1856). 
|] Catocala Briseis, Edwards, Proc. Ent. Soc., Phil., II, (1864). 
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