The Moths of the British Isles Volume I Part 24

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 101.

1. POPLAR GREY: _caterpillar_.

2, 2a. SCARCE MERVEILLE DU JOUR: _caterpillar and chrysalis_.

3, 3a, 3b. NUT-TREE TUSSOCK: _caterpillar, chrysalis and coc.o.o.n_.

4. DARK DAGGER: _caterpillar_.

5, 5a. GREY DAGGER: _caterpillar and chrysalis_.

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NOCTUIDae.

This extensive a.s.semblage of moths, commonly known as noctuas, and locally as "millers," "owlets," and "buzzards," has been divided by Staudinger into five sub-families--Acronyctinae, Trifinae, Gonopterinae, Quadrifinae, and Hypeninae. These divisions are here adopted, and the arrangement of species is adhered to pretty closely, except in the Trifinae, where it has been considered necessary to make sundry alterations so as to fall more in line with later cla.s.sification, at least so far as concerns genera.

The eggs of species in this family are round and somewhat flattened in shape, and the sh.e.l.l is fluted or netted. Some few examples of these have been figured.

Most of the larvae conceal themselves during the day, in the ground, among low herbage, or in spun-together leaves, and only leave their retreat at night to feed. Most kinds change to the chrysalis state underground, but some pupate among leaves or in c.h.i.n.ks of tree bark, etc.

With some few exceptions the moths fly only at night, by far the larger number will visit the sugar patch, and others come readily to flowers or to light.

Distribution abroad will only be referred to where this is restricted in Europe, or extends far beyond European limits.

ACRONYCTINae.

THE SCARCE MERVEILLE DU JOUR (_Diphtera orion_).

This pretty moth has the fore wings green variegated with white stripes and black cross lines; the hind wings are greyish, marked with white at the a.n.a.l angle. The s.p.a.ces between the interrupted cross lines of the fore wings are often marked with {190} black, and this is the typical form of the species; the plainer specimens--those less spotted with black--being referable to var. _runica_, Stephens. Stephens in 1829 notes that the species was then little known in England. It is still very local, inhabiting oak woods in Suss.e.x (Hailsham), Hamps.h.i.+re (New Forest, sometimes common), Devons.h.i.+re (Plymouth district), Cornwall (East Looe), Ess.e.x (Colchester), and Suffolk (Ipswich). The moth is out in June; on September 5, 1906, Mr. L. W. Newman bred a small specimen that had only been in the chrysalis seventeen days. Usually it rests by day on boughs, and sometimes on the trunks of trees (see Fig. 8, p. 9); it flies at night and then patronizes the sugar patch, but often is a late visitor. The caterpillar, which feeds upon oak in July and August, is black on the back with a yellow or whitish blotch on rings four, six, and nine; the reddish warts are crowned with tufts of brown or whitish hairs. Head black marked with yellow except on the top. It is also said to eat leaves of beech and birch.

Staudinger gives _alpium_, Osbeck (1778), as an earlier name than _orion_, Esp. Hampson refers alpinum to _Daseochaeta_, Warren.

Distribution: Central and Northern Europe, and represented by var.

_murrhina_, Graes., in Amurland, China, and j.a.pan.

The moth is depicted on Plate 100, Fig. 1, and the caterpillar and chrysalis on Plate 101, Figs. 2, 2a.

THE NUT-TREE TUSSOCK (_Demas coryli_).

Usually the fore wings of this moth appear to be brownish, or reddish brown on the basal half, and whitish, more or less suffused with greyish, or sometimes reddish brown, on the outer half; the hind wings are pale brownish, or greyish, lighter towards the base. Not infrequently the fore wings are greyish white with some brownish clouding between the two blackish cross lines. The caterpillar is variable in colour, but generally of some shade of brown, ranging from dark chocolate brown to {191} pale ochreous, covered with soft hair; the pencils of long hairs on the first ring, and the tufts of hairs on rings four, five, and eleven, may be red, greyish, or blackish; the broken stripe along the back is greyish, and the stripe low down on each side may be red, brown, or greyish. It feeds in June and July, and as a second generation in September, on the foliage of beech, birch, hazel, hornbeam, etc.: bushes growing in exposed positions such as a hedge bank or hill side are chiefly fancied. The moth flies in May and June, and again in August and September. It probably occurs in most of the English counties, but is most frequent in Berks.h.i.+re, Bucks, and Devon. Not uncommon in Clydesdale, but more plentiful in Aberdeens.h.i.+re, and is also obtained in Perths.h.i.+re, and in other parts of Scotland. Widely distributed in Ireland.

The moth is shown on Plate 100, Fig. 2, and the early stages on Plate 101, Figs. 3, 3a, 3b.

THE MILLER (_Acronycta leporina_).

In its typical form the wings are quite white with but little in the way of marking. Most, if not all, the specimens occurring in Britain are the more or less greyish suffused and more marked, variety known as _bradyporina_, Treits. (Plate 100, Figs. 3 [male], 4 [female].) Sometimes the outer margins of the fore wings, beyond the second cross line, are shaded or dusted with blackish (var. _semivirga_, Tutt). In the Liverpool district a form is occasionally obtained in which the fore wings are darkly suffused, and the thorax is black (var. _melanocephala_, Mansbridge). A specimen with black fore wings and white fringes has been bred from a caterpillar found in Ess.e.x (_Entomologist_, x.x.xviii., 289, and x.x.xix., 97).

The caterpillar is pale green clothed with long white, and a few black hairs; these fall downwards, and on the one side curve forwards, and on the other side backwards. Sometimes in the {192} south of England, more frequently in the north, the ground colour and hairs are yellow, and there are more or less distinct reddish brown bands on the back and sides. It may be found from July to September, or even later, on birch or alder, rarely on oak and poplar. The moth occurs in May and June, as a rule. In 1904 I took a freshly emerged specimen on July 23, at Byfleet in Surrey, and some half-grown caterpillars were obtained on the same day, and very near the same spot. The species is found in woods, and on heaths and mosses, where birch or alder flourishes, from Devons.h.i.+re in England to Sutherlands.h.i.+re in Scotland. It is not common anywhere in our islands, but is perhaps most frequently met with in the south and east of England. In Ireland it appears to have been found only in the southern counties.

THE SYCAMORE (_Acronycta aceris_).

The dark mottled grey moth on Plate 100, Fig. 5, is not much given to variation, but occasionally brownish suffused forms occur (var.

_candelisequa_, Esp. = _infuscata_, Haworth).

The caterpillar (Plate 102, Fig. 3) feeds in August and September upon sycamore, maple, and sometimes plum and chestnut. It has some black-edged white marks along the middle of the back; the pointed tufts of long hairs are yellow or reddish. When it is at rest on the underside of a leaf, or coils in a ring on being disturbed, the hair tufts gave the creature a somewhat p.r.i.c.kly appearance. The moth is out in June and July.

The species is more or less common pretty well through the southern and eastern counties, and fairly so in and around London. Its range extends to Warwicks.h.i.+re and Herefords.h.i.+re; but it is scarce in both counties. The Irish localities for it are Claring Bridge and Ahascragh, Co. Galway; Glandore and Timologue, Co. Cork; Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 102.

1. KNOT GRa.s.s: _caterpillar_.

2. SCARCE DAGGER: _caterpillars_.

3, 3a, 3b. SYCAMORE: _caterpillar, chrysalis and coc.o.o.n_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 103.

1, 2. LIGHT KNOT-GRa.s.s.

3. SCARCE DAGGER.

4. SWEET GALE MOTH.

5. CORONET MOTH.

6, 7. KNOT-GRa.s.s MOTH.

8. MARBLED GREEN, _male_; 11 _female_.

9. MARBLED BEAUTY, _male_; 12 _female_.

10. POWDERED WAINSCOT.

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THE POPLAR GREY (_Acronycta megacephala_).

This moth is somewhat like that last noticed, but the fore wings are darker grey; the whitish orbicular mark is margined with black, and has a dark central dot. Sometimes the fore wings are clouded with blackish, and occasionally entirely suffused with black. In several species of _Acronycta_ newly disclosed specimens have a faint pinky tinge, but this is especially noticeable in the present species. (Plate 100, Fig. 6.)

The caterpillar is ochreous or grey brown, marked with blackish; a conspicuous character is a black-edged whitish or ochreous patch on ring ten; the hairs are whitish, those on the sides rather long. It feeds from July to September on the foliage of poplars. (Plate 101, Fig. 1).

This well-known c.o.c.kney species is on the wing from late May to mid-August.

Has been bred in September from a caterpillar taken in July, also in October from August larvae. It is often abundant on poplars (especially the caterpillars) in London and suburbs. Common all over the southern parts of England, except perhaps in Devon and Cornwall; its range extends through Northern England to Ross in Scotland; and it is found in the south of Ireland.

THE ALDER (_Acronycta alni_).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 26.

CATERPILLAR OF THE ALDER-MOTH.

(Photo by W. J. Lucas.)]

The s.e.xes of this black-clouded grey moth are shown on Plate 100, Figs. 8 and 9[female]. Except that the black clouding sometimes spreads over a greater area of the fore wings, there is little to note in aberration, at least in a general way. In 1906 a melanic specimen was bred from a chrysalis taken from alder in Delamere Forest, Ches.h.i.+re; this is probably referable to var. _steinerti_, Caspari.

The caterpillar (Fig. 26) is black, marked with yellow; the {194} curious clubbed hairs are its distinguis.h.i.+ng feature. Although named after the alder, it feeds on the leaves of most trees and bushes in July and August, sometimes earlier or later. The moth is out in May and June, but although an occasional specimen has been taken at sugar or light, once resting on nettles, it is rarely met with. Caterpillars also are not by any means common, and any one who may obtain even a single example in a season may congratulate himself on a good find. They are perhaps most frequent in the Hamps.h.i.+re (New Forest) district and some of the Suss.e.x woodlands, but have occurred now and then in almost every county of England up to Yorks.h.i.+re; also in Glamorgans.h.i.+re, Carmarthens.h.i.+re, and at Trefriw in Wales. The only Irish locality is Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow. The range abroad extends to Armenia, Amurland, and j.a.pan.

THE MARSH DAGGER (_Acronycta strigosa_).