6 
CASTNIIDAL By Dr. A. Seitz. 
patch in the woods, the Castnia remaining in sole possession. Moths also and even small birds were driven 
away, and this continued until a $ of the same species was seen. The follows the $ in very rapid pursuit; 
in many species, especially those of the Gazera group, around the tree-tops or through the sparse foliage of 
single palms and Cecropias, in the case of C. citymnius and cochrus along the wood-paths. Copulation I have 
only been able to observe more closely in atymnius. The wary $ flies into the bushes and settles on a vertical 
branch, with its head upwards and its wings open ready for flight; the <$ sits about half a yard lower 
down, minutely observing the $. On the slightest provocation the latter flies off, and the <$ rushes after 
it in continuous headlong pursuit. In the air they often touch each other, until they suddenly fly apart. I 
have never seen a pair belonging to this family in copulation and therefore am convinced that normally 
this act takes place while the insects are on the wing. 
Ovipositing has probably never been observed. The food of the larva is found to be the fruit of 
trees, cane-stalks, or orchids, the larva boring its way into the roots of the last-named. Orchids, especially the 
larger species, are not common, and as they occur chiefly in the tops of high trees it is very difficult for the 
collector to reach them. The healthy bulbs of the rarer orchids are worth much more than the Castnia lar¬ 
vae living in them and the collecting of larvae is therefore neither very successful nor remunerative. However, 
as is mentioned under Castnia, some details of its life-history are known; living Castniae have even been caught 
in Europe, a proof that the pupa is able to withstand the dangers of transit. 
In most cases the Castniae are very difficult to catch; they are most easily captured at flowers. I often 
obtained good specimens of C. pallasia and a few decussata at flowering trees. But when in the net the insects 
rush about so wildly that it is very rarely possible to secure them in perfect condition. The many defective 
specimens one meets with in nature prove that the violent behaviour of the moth is injurious to their wings, 
and that the latter, almost equalling cardboard in stoutness, suffer in the fights and wild races through the bushes. 
Larger species are so strong and make such efforts to escape that one can scarcely hold them in ones 
fingers. C. schreibersi for instance I could only hold by squeezing the thorax so hard that the woolly covering 
of the underside was rubbed off, the insect at the same time stabbing me quite severely with the spurs of its 
hindtibiae. The Castniae are, moreover, very tenacious of life, which is rarely the case in groups of insects con¬ 
taining mimetic forms. Their skeleton is unusually hard and fairly tough, so that one often has to use all ones 
available strength to squeeze the thorax sufficiently to lame the moth; only tobacco-juice and injections of 
ammonia kill surely and swiftly, as they do other tenacious insects. 
The scaling of the wings also suffers very easily. The Castniae are covered with a very dense but coarse 
scaling, and the single scales are of an extraordinary size, being the largest of any moth or butterfly I know. 
On account of these large scales the wings often look like a piece of embroidery in which each single stich is 
visible. Bare stripes therefore easily occur, especially on the median and costal veins, and the unusually long 
fringes of the wings are also easily worn. 
The Castniae are almost all of large size, some of them being very large moths; C. daedalus and pylades 
reach 180 mm expanse, and even the smallest known species, such as marcelserres and amyous , attain medium 
size. In colour they are exceedingly gaudy, red being predominant. On the dark patches of the wings there 
is often a beautiful gloss, which shows up marvellously, especially when the insects sit in the glaring sun, as 
is their custom. In spite of this the forewings often imitate a crinkled dry leaf or the fruit of a tree, and it 
is worthy of note that the species so protected allow one to approach, as though they relied on this resemblance, v 
while the species without this protective colouring, e.g. some forms of Gazera, spend the hours when they 
are not on the wing hidden away in the bushes, and rush away when they find themselves discovered. When 
on the wing many species resemble huge Catocalas, but far surpass the latter in rapidity of flight. 
As will be explained below, we here only accept one genus, divided into several groups. It is almost 
exclusively confined to the tropics of America, where it is distributed from Argentina and Paraguay in the 
South to Mexico in the North without reaching the frontier of the United States. We have dealt with the 
Indo-Australian “Castniidae” and their probable affinity in vol. 10, p. 3, and with the African genus placed 
here in vol. 14, p. 3. About 160 forms are known from America, all of which are easily distinguishable, many, 
however, being extremely rare in collections. Perhaps some species spend their whole life in or above tree-tops, 
as it is there that they find all they need both as larva (fruits or orchid-roots) and as moth (which are essentially 
visitors of flowers). 
Head fairly large, on a thin neck, frons broad posteriorly, narrower anteriorly. Eyes naked, large, 
prominent. Palpi of medium length, appressed to the head and rarely projecting beyond it. Antennae very 
strong, gradually swelling to form an elongate club which ends in a small whip. Thorax broad, stout, with a 
hard shell and covered with smooth fluff and large scales. Legs strong but not conspicuously stout, forelegs 
