Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Exotic Moths.djvu/250

196 EREBUS CREPUSCULARIS.

PLATE XXV. Fig. 1.

genus, which corresponds to that named Thysania, by Dalman, was established by Latreille, for the reception of a group of exotic moths, which he was of opinion should be separated from the Noctuidæ. They bear the wings always extended and horizontal, and the last joint of the palpi is long, slender, and naked. The genus comprises some of the most gigantic moths with which we are acquainted; in particular, the Erebus strix, or great owl-moth of Brazil, which measures about a foot from tip to tip of the expanded wings. The caterpillar of this superb moth, "the glory of the Noctuidæ," as it is termed by Kirby, is of a black colour, with transverse green bands and a lateral stripe, bearing pretty long tufts of fine hair, and having an anal horn like the larva of a sphinx. (See Merian's Surinam Insects, pl. 20.) Not greatly inferior in size is the E. odora, which occurs in many of the West Indian islands. The prevailing hues among them are very dark, and they are frequently