PLATE XXIV.

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EREBUS HERCYNA.

Plate XXIV. fig. 1, 2.

Order: Lepidoptera. Section: Nocturna. Family: NoctuidÆ, Steph.

Genus. Erebus, Latr. Thysania, Dalm. PhalÆna (Noctua), Drury.

Erebus Hercyna. Alis dentatis fuscis obscurÈ undulatis, anticarum disco (puncto nigro) posticarum strig medi undulat pallidÈ cinereis. (Expans. Alar. 4 unc. 3 lin.)

Syn. PhalÆna (Noctua) Hercyna, Drury, App. vol. 2.

Habitat: Jamaica.

Upper Side. AntennÆ filiform, brown, and thread-like. Head, thorax, abdomen, and wings greyish brown. The anterior wings having about two-thirds, next the shoulders, of a lighter brown, being separated from the darker part by a narrow, black, undulated line, similar to one which runs along the external edges from the tips to the lower corners; near the shoulders are placed two brown spots on each wing, one round, the other squarish. Posterior wings having two narrow, black, undulated lines crossing them, one next the external edges, the other about a quarter of an inch above them; the latter being edged with white.

Under Side. Palpi, breast, and sides greyish brown. Tongue spiral. Anterior wings rather lighter than on the upper side; having a dark undulated line crossing them, near the middle, from the anterior to the posterior edges; near the shoulders are two brown spots, one exactly like a comma, the other round and smaller; a white streak, edged at the top with brown, is placed near the lower corners; and along the external edges is a row of faint angulated brown spots placed over each scollop. Posterior wings greyish brown; having a small, square, brown spot near the shoulders, and a patch of a whitish colour at the upper corners. A dark brown undulated line, edged with white, begins near the middle of the anterior edges, which crossing the wings ends at the extremity of the body; and along the external edges runs a series of brown spots, placed over each scollop. All the wings are dentated.

SATURNIA MAIA.

Plate XXIV. fig. 3.

Order: Lepidoptera. Section: Nocturna. Family: BombycidÆ, Leach.

Genus. Saturnia, Schrank. Attacus, Germar. PhalÆna (attacus), Drury.

Saturnia Maia. Alis rotundatis nigris; fasci albÂ, macul subocellari nigrÂ, ano rufescenti. (Expans. Alar. 2 unc. 3 lin.)

Syn. PhalÆna (Bombyx) Maia, Drury, App. vol. 2. Cramer, Ins. 2. tab. 98. fig. A.

Bombyx Proserpina, Fabr. Ent. Syst. III. 1. p. 419. No. 40. Gmel. Linn. S. N. 2407. 480. Abbot & Smith Ins. Georg. pl. 50. Oliv. Enc. MÉth. 5. 37. 48. Pal. Bauv. Ins. d'Afr. et d'Amer. Lep. pl. 24. f. 2. 3.

Habitat: New York (Drury). Georgia (Abbot).

Upper Side. AntennÆ black, and strongly pectinated. Neck ash-coloured. Thorax and abdomen black, the extremity being orange. Wings pellucid. The anterior being black, with a white bar crossing them from the anterior to the posterior edges; whereon is a semi-eye placed near the former. Posterior wings black, with a broader white bar crossing them from the anterior to the abdominal edges; having near the former a black triangular spot thereon.

Under Side. Palpi and tongue indistinct. Legs and thorax black. Thighs orange. Abdomen grey, having its sides spotted with white; the extremity orange. Wings coloured as on the upper side, but rather more distinct. The thinness of the wings occasions the colours to be less distinct and clear than in most others of this kind. Margins of the wings entire.

The caterpillar of this very conspicuous moth feeds upon the red oak (Quercus rubra, Linn.), and other species of the same genus. The caterpillars represented by Abbot are considerably different in colour; one being dark-coloured, but covered over with minute yellow spots; and the other yellow, with a slender, dorsal, and two broader lateral black lines. The head is red, and each segment is furnished with a transverse series of tubercles, emitting spinose setÆ. It is, I presume, by the assistance of these setÆ that "the caterpillar stings very sharply," as stated by Abbot. When small the whole brood lives together, but they disperse as they grow larger. One of these larvÆ, in Virginia, went into the ground on the 1st of July, and the moth came out on the 20th of October; whilst in Georgia another buried itself on the 14th of June, and the fly did not appear until the 8th of December; after which other individuals kept coming out from time to time until the 16th of February. The male appears by day, and flies very swiftly, mounting and descending. The moth is called in America the Buck-fly, from an erroneous idea that its caterpillars are bred in the heads of the buck, which blow them out of their nostrils. This opinion originates from the fly coming out in the rutting season whilst the bucks are pursuing the does; the hunters therefore take notice of the insect in order to know the proper season for their sport, which is later in Georgia than in Virginia, as is also the appearance of the moth. They are much more plentiful in the last-mentioned country. (Abbot, loc. cit.)

The specific name of Drury having the priority, I have retained it; although that subsequently proposed by Fabricius is far more expressive, recalling, as Sir J. E. Smith observes, the idea of a fair flower which had

"by gloomy Dis been gathered,"

now become as grizly as the grim monarch of the infernal regions himself.

EREBUS EDUSA.

Plate XXIV. fig. 4.

Order: Lepidoptera. Section: Nocturna. Family: NoctuidÆ, Leach.

Genus. Erebus, Latr. Thysania, Dalm. PhalÆna (noctua), Drury.

Erebus Edusa. Alis castaneis fusco irroratis, anticis maculis nonnullis baseos alterisque duabus majoribus apicalibus; apiceque posticarum (nigro punctato) albis. (Expans. Alar. 2 unc. 2 lin.)

Syn. PhalÆna (Noctua) Edusa, Drury, App. vol. 2.

Habitat: New York.

Upper Side. AntennÆ brown and filiform. Thorax, abdomen, and wings of a fine red sandy brown colour; the first ring of the abdomen with an ash-coloured spot. Anterior wings with two whitish oblong spots on the external edges of each; one near the tips, the other at the lower corners. A small whitish bar crosses these wings about a quarter of an inch from the body; and next the shoulders is a spot of the same whitish colour. Posterior wings brown, with an oblong whitish spot placed along the external edges, reaching from the abdominal almost to the upper corners. Cilia brown.

Under Side. Palpi brown. Tongue short. Breast, sides, and legs paler than on the upper side. Wings pale sandy-coloured, except a few small, round, dark spots dispersed over them, but scarcely discernible. Margins of all the wings dentated.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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