The Moths of the British Isles Volume Ii Part 4

The caterpillar is reddish brown, freckled with paler; the three pale lines along the back are distinctly white on the plate on ring 1, the outer lines edged below with brownish; spiracles outlined in black, and the stripe along them is reddish ochreous. It feeds in spring and early summer, at first on oak, sallow, and hawthorn, and afterwards on low-growing weeds.

The moth flies in October and November, and as it lives through the winter is seen at sugar on any mild night, but it does not seem to turn up at the sallow catkins in the spring. The species is rather less generally distributed than the last, but it is not uncommon in the southern and eastern counties, and is found throughout England to the Tyne. Recorded from very few localities in Ireland, and apparently not noticed in Scotland.

THE DOTTED CHESTNUT (_Orrhodia_ (_Dasycampa_) _rubiginea_).

A pair of typical specimens are represented on Plate 11, Figs. 11 and 12. A form of the species occurring in Somersets.h.i.+re has the fore wings reddish brown, and the usual black dots are largely absent (ab. _unicolor_, Tutt).

The caterpillar (Plate 6, Fig. 2) is purplish brown freckled with blackish; there are three obscure paler lines along the back from ring 3, and a central series of black spots; the head is black, and the fine hairs of the body are yellowish brown. It feeds, in May and June, on apple, plum, dandelion, etc. The fact has been noted that, if supplied with apple until about half grown, and afterwards with dandelion, it attains full size more quickly than when kept to one kind of food only.

The moth appears in October and November, retires during the cold weather, and comes forth again in the spring. When {27} reared in confinement, it emerges from the chrysalis about a month earlier. Ivy bloom, ripe yew berries, and also sugar attract it in the autumn, and in the spring it visits the blossoms of sallow, damson, and sloe. There are several records of its having been taken at light, perhaps the latest of these being that of a specimen captured at Exeter on April 11, 1906.

Except in Devons.h.i.+re, where it is of more regular occurrence, the species is far from common in England, but is taken in, or has been recorded from, the counties of Dorset, Wilts, Gloucester, Hereford, Monmouth (S. Wales), Hants and Isle of Wight, Suss.e.x, Surrey, Berks, Bucks, and Cambridge. In Ireland it is noted from Dublin, King's County, Kerry, Wicklow, and Galway.

It is represented in j.a.pan by the larger ab. _fornax_, Butler.

THE SATELLITE (_Eupsilia_ (_Scopelosoma_) _satellitia_).

An example of each s.e.x of this species is shown on Plate 12, together with a less common form. Although specimens vary in the amount of red in the colour of the fore wings, there is more striking aberration in the colour of the lunular marks representing the reniform stigma; these are frequently white, but may be yellow (typical), or reddish orange in either s.e.x. The dull brownish specimen (Fig. 3) is from Yorks.h.i.+re, and appears to be referable to var. _brunnea_, Lampa.

The caterpillar is dark brown, with indistinct paler lines on the back; the line along the spiracles is white or whitish, but often reduced to a series of spots on rings 1, 2, 5, and 11. Head, ochreous-brown, darker about the mouth. It feeds, in May and June, on the leaves of oak, beech, elm, and other trees, also on low plants; and has a keen appet.i.te, it is said, for other caterpillars when the opportunity offers.

The moth is out in September, and may be seen at ivy bloom or sugar during that month, and also in October and November {28} if the weather is favourable; it is early on the wing again in the spring.

Although apparently uncommon in some few parts, the species seems to be generally distributed and plentiful throughout England, Wales, Scotland up to Ross (recorded from Stromma, Orkney), and Ireland.

In j.a.pan, a greyish form with larger spots (ab. _tripuncta_, Butler) occurs.

THE TAWNY PINION (_Lithophane_ (_Xylina_) _semibrunnea_).

An example of this species is represented on Plate 12, Fig. 4. The black streak from above the middle of the inner margin towards the hind margin should be noted, as this character distinguishes _semibrunnea_ from dark forms of the following species--_L. socia._

The caterpillar is yellowish green, with a broad creamy stripe along the middle of the back, and two indistinct fine lines on each side; below the black-outlined white spiracles is a yellow stripe. Head, bluish green, freckled with darker green. It feeds on ash in May and June.

The moth appears on the wing, and may be seen at ivy bloom and sugar, from September to November, and is sometimes captured at sallow, after hibernation, in March or April.

It is on record that two specimens taken in November were kept in confinement, and three other captives were added in February. All continued to live until June, and two were still alive on the 23rd of that month.

Although this species is found more or less regularly in most of the English counties south of Worcester on the west, and Huntingdon on the east, it is always very local, and never plentiful. It has been reported from Carmarthens.h.i.+re in South Wales; and Kane states that in Ireland it has been taken in Galway and Kerry.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 12.

1-3. THE SATELLITE.

6. GREY SHOULDER-KNOT.

4. TAWNY PINION.

7. EARLY GREY.

5. PALE PINION.

8, 9. GOLDEN-ROD BRINDLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 13.

1, 2. THE CONFORMIST.

3. THE NONCONFORMIST.

4, 5. THE CUDWEED.

{29}

THE PALE PINION (_Lithophane_ (_Xylina_) _socia_).

The pale ochreous-brown insect shown on Plate 12, Fig. 5, is without the dark, sometimes blackish suffusion on the inner area which is characteristic of the type of this species. Var. _rufescens_, Tutt, is a reddish form.

The caterpillar is pale green with three white lines, the central one broad and stripe-like; the line along the spiracles is yellow. Head, pale green, variegated with white. (Adapted from Porritt.)

The moth comes to ivy bloom, sugar, etc., in September and October, and even later if the weather is mild. After hibernation it reappears as early as February, and visits the sallows as soon as the catkins open.

Although it seems to be absent from the eastern counties, except Cambridge--where, however, it is scarce--this species is found in most of the other counties mentioned for the last species. It is generally more plentiful, especially in the west. Occasionally specimens have been taken in c.u.mberland, and single examples have been recorded from the Liverpool and Hartlepool districts. It seems to be not uncommon in South Wales, and has been reported from Capel Curig, in Carnarvons.h.i.+re. As regards Ireland, Kane says that there are few Irish localities where this species is not found.

THE CONFORMIST (_Graptolitha_ (_Xylina_) _furcifera_).

The typical form of this species has the fore wings of a pale slaty grey colour; this, however, does not seem to occur in Britain. Our form, var.

_suffusa_, Tutt (shown on Plate 13, Figs. 1 and 2), is much darker grey with blackish mottling, a yellowish mark at the base and a reddish cloud in the reniform stigma; the outer area is more or less tinged with violet, and this tint sometimes spreads over the whole of the fore wings; {30} the inner margin is tinged with reddish orange at the base, or along the basal half, and there are some clouds of the same colour on the black submarginal line. This is _conformis_ of British authors.

The caterpillar (drawn from a skin, Plate 8, Fig. 1) is olive brown, tinged with green above, and paler brown, tinged with pink beneath; the dots are yellowish in black circles, and there is a dark olive-brown mark on ring 1; there are three yellow lines along the back, the central one interrupted by darker brown freckles, cl.u.s.tered so as to form a series of diamond-shaped patches, and the others are edged above with dark olive. It feeds on alder, from April to June.

The moth is out in September and October, and, after hibernation, in March and April. Ivy bloom and sugar attract it in the autumn, and it has been taken at sallow catkins as well as at sugar in the spring.

Since 1861, when its occurrence in Wales was first announced, it has been found more or less regularly in Glamorgans.h.i.+re, South Wales, or the adjoining English county of Monmouth. The latest record is that by Mr. P.

J. Barraud, who took a male specimen at sallow bloom in the Wye Valley on March 31, 1907. The capture of a specimen at sugar, near Brighton, September 13, 1898, has been reported. One specimen has been recorded from Yorks., another from Westmoreland; and in 1902, two from near Lancaster.

Wales, however, appears to be the home of this species in the British Isles.

THE NONCONFORMIST (_Graptolitha_ (_Xylina_) _lamda_).

The example of this species shown on Plate 13, Fig. 3, is of the typical form, and hails from the Continent. Of the six specimens observed in England the majority have been recorded as _zinckenii_, Treitschke, a form having the fore wings more variegated with white. Another form, ab.

_somniculosa_, Hering, {31} has most of the typical markings, especially on the outer area, absent.

The earliest occurrence of this species in Britain appears to have been that of a specimen on the trunk of a poplar tree in the northern environs of London, October, 1865. Then on September 30, 1866, one was detected on the bole of a willow tree in a locality not indicated more definitely than "near New Cross"; another specimen was taken in the same year in the Guildford district, at sugar. On October 3, 1870, a fourth was found on the reverse side of a tree that had been sugared, at Dartford, Kent; and a specimen, labelled Erith, September, 1875, was in the collection of the late Mr. Bond. Lastly, a specimen came to sugar at Copdock, Ipswich, in late September, 1895.

The range of this species abroad extends through Scandinavia, Belgium, North Germany, and North Russia, to East Siberia, and Amurland. It is found in North America, where it is known as _thaxteri_, Grote.

THE GREY SHOULDER-KNOT (_Graptolitha_ (_Xylina_) _ornithopus_).

The moth, of which a portrait will be found on Plate 12, Fig. 6, emerges from the chrysalis in the autumn, and may then be found at night on ivy bloom or at the sugar patch; and in the daytime it may frequently be seen on tree trunks, palings, etc. After hibernation, it is again seen in the spring, on fences, pales, etc., and visits the sallow catkins at night.

Females of this species, and other hibernating kinds, taken in the spring generally deposit fertile eggs pretty freely; often such specimens are not in the best condition, but one female, if she has not already parted with most of her eggs, will as a rule deposit quite as many as the collector is likely to need.

The caterpillar is of a blue-green colour with whitish freckles; {32} three broken whitish lines along the back; head, green, with a paler mark on each cheek. It is to be found in May and early June on the leaves of oak.

The species is widely distributed throughout England and Wales, but is more frequently met with in the south than in the north. It is found in Scotland, but only rarely, and the same remark applies to Ireland generally, although the species is not uncommon in some parts of Wicklow, Cork, and Kerry.