Volume 14, Plate XXVI / Entomology (Insects)

Clifden Nonpareil & Red Underwing

Catocala Fraxini & C. Nupta

1. The Clifden Nonpareil. The largest British moth, the wings sometimes reaching four inches, the thorax and upper wings light grey variegated with undulating brown lines, the under wings brownish-black with a broad curved light-blue band across the middle and the fringe pure white and deeply indented. The ash-coloured caterpillar, sprinkled with black dots, lives on ash, poplar, oak, and elm, this rare insect first found at Cliefden in Buckinghamshire and more plentiful on the continent.
2. Red Underwing. Extent of the wings about three inches or more, the upper pair dark grey with waved brown and yellow streaks and a marginal series of lunulated spots, the under wings deep blood-red inclining to carmine with a black central band and a broad marginal band, the white fringe with faint ferruginous spots. The grey brown-variegated caterpillar, attenuated at both ends, feeds on poplar and willow, this moth very frequent in southern England and not rare in the northern counties.