400 
The Moths and Butterflies 
Noctuids have come into prominence because of the destructive vegetable¬ 
feeding habits of their larvae; such are the cutworm-moths, the army- 
worm moths, the cotton-worm moths, and others, and these species are 
so often described and pictured that they are fairly well known. Other 
small groups, of which the interesting Catocalas, the red and yellow under¬ 
wings (Fig. 580), are the most conspicuous, have attracted the attention 
of collectors because of particular habits or patterns, and these are fairly 
Fig. 580.—A group of red and yellow underwings; upper moth, Catocala palceogama;- 
lower left-hand corner, Catocala ultronia; lower right-hand corner, Catocala grynea. 
(After Lugger; natural size.) 
well known. Few moth-collectors but have “sugared” for Catocalas, 
those large night-flyers, somber of fore wing but brilliant of hind wing,, 
that can be so readily attracted and taken by a bait of molasses and stale 
beer smeared in patches on the trunks of trees in summer-time. The fore 
wings harmonize in color, shades, and pattern so thoroughly with the bark 
that when the Catocala rests, as it does during the daytime, on tree-trunks 
with its brilliant hind wings, strikingly banded with red, yellow, white, or 
black, covered by the fore wings, it is simply indistinguishable. The 
Catocala larvae are curious creatures, with body thick in the middle and 
