TAB. L.
PHA LÆN A PROSERPINA.
B L A C K E M P E R O R M O T H .
Q U E R C U S RUBRA. L INM
RED OA K. .1.
P h . Attorns pcftinicomis, alis rotundatis nigris: fn'Ka albil: ,n:r.cr.H lubocctlari nigra.
Phaltena Maja. Druty's Inf. V. 2. t. 24. f . 3. Cram. Pap. t. 98. f . A.
Bombyx Proferpina. Fair. Entom. emend. V. 4. 4Jg.
T h e caterpillar eats the red oak, and other oaks. One o f them in Virginia w e n t
in to th e ground the lft o f Ju ly , and came o u t 2o th October. In Georgia the lame
fpecies buried itfelf Ju n e 1 4 th , and th e fly did n o t appear till December 8th, after
which other individuals k ep t coming out from time to time till February l6 th .
T h e male appears by day, and flies very fwiftly, mounting and d e fen d in g . T h e
caterpillar flings very fharply; w hen fmall th e w hole brood feeds together, b u t they
dilperle as th ey g row large.
This Moth is called in America th e Buck fly,, from an erroneous vulgar notion
th a t Bucks breed its caterpillars in their heads, and blow them o u t o f th e ir noftrils.
This opinion originated from th e fly coming out in the ru ttin g feafon, while the
Bucks are purluing the Does. T h e hunters therefore tak e notice o f the infect, in
order to k n ow th e proper feafon for their Iport, which is later in Georgia than in
Virginia, as is th e appearance o f thefe flies. T h ey are much th e moft plentiful in
th e laft mentioned country. T h e tw o caterpillars here delineated are varieties o f
colour.
As the larva of many infers do occaiionally breed in the bony cavities of the nofe in animals,
and fometimes even in the human fubjetfl, caufing dreadful difeafes there, the vulgar
notion mentioned by M r. Abbot may not always be erroneous; at leaft fome particular accidental
fails of this kind may have led to the general opinion.
If Fabricius had been acquainted with the above hiftory o f this fpecies, how well might
he have called it Diana! Yet the name he has given (inftead of the unmeaning one of Maja) is
fo appropriate, that none could with it otherwife. It recalls the idea of a fair flower which had
1 “ by gloomy Dis been gathered,"
now become as grifly as the grim monarch o f the infernal, regions himfelf.
Cramer proves to be wrong in taking the figure in Drury for the female of this fly. Both
their figures reprefent the male. The public are now for the firft time prefented with both
fexes.
This kind of Red Oak is diftinguiihed in Dr. Solander’s manufcripts as a variety by the
name of amhgita, but was probably thought not fufficiently marked to deferve a place in the
Hortus Kewenfis.