The Moths of the British Isles Volume Ii Part 19

3, 4. LESSER CREAM WAVE.

5-7. MULLEIN WAVE.

9. LEWES WAVE.

8. SUB-ANGLED WAVE.

10. ROSY WAVE.

11, 12. SMALL BLOOD-VEIN.

{123}

THE LACE BORDER (_Acidalia_ (_Craspedia_) _ornata_).

The conspicuously marked white moth depicted on Plate 46, Figs. 13 and 14, is unlikely to escape the notice of the collector who visits rough fields and hillsides in some of the chalk districts of Southern England, especially in the counties of Kent, Surrey, and Suss.e.x. Usually there are two generations of the moth during the year; one is on the wing in May and June, and the other flies in August and September.

The caterpillar is of long and slender build, the head is notched, and the skin of the body is roughened. In colour it is ochreous brown above and greyish beneath; there are three lines along the back, the central one pale, except towards the head, edged with dusky, the others dark brown. On each ring, from four to eight, are two dark V-shaped marks; low down along the sides there is a dusky edged and mottled, pale ochreous stripe. It feeds, from October to May, and in July and August, on thyme, marjoram, and may be reared on garden mint. Abroad, the species ranges over Central and Southern Europe, and through Asia to Amurland.

NOTE.--According to Prout (_Entom._ x.x.xix. 267), this species is the type of the genus _Scopula_, Schrank. {124}

THE CREAM WAVE (_Acidalia_ (_Leptomeris_) _remutaria_).

This species (Plate 49, Figs. 1, 2) has the wings white or ochreous white, becoming rather smoky grey on the front edge of the fore wings, and sometimes this tinge spreads all over the wings. In well-marked specimens there are two dark, wavy, cross-lines, a dusky central shade, and a dusky shade-like stripe along the outer area beyond the second line; the first line of the fore wings is often placed close to the central shade, and sometimes it is merged in it. Not infrequently the lines are barely traceable, but almost as often the wings appear to have a pair of lines only, and these distinctly darker than usual.

The caterpillar is rough, long and slender; grey-brown with irregular darker marks, a pale line along the middle of the back, and a dark cross on the back of ring ten. The notched head is pale brown with a black V-mark.

It feeds, from July to September, on bedstraw (_Galium_), woodruff (_Asperula_), dock, sallow, etc.

The moth is out in May and June, and often is plentiful in woods throughout the greater part of England and Wales; in Yorks.h.i.+re and northwards through Scotland up to Moray it is rather local. In Ireland it has been found in Wicklow and Louth, but more commonly in the south and west.

The range abroad extends to Amurland and j.a.pan.

THE LESSER CREAM WAVE (_Acidalia_ (_Leptomeris_) _immutata_).

White, more or less tinged with ochreous or ochreous grey in the male, is the general colour of this moth; the wings are crossed by several ochreous lines, the third line of the fore wings and the second line of the hind wings rather wavy. All the wings with central black dots, most distinct on the hind pair, occasionally absent from fore wings. (Plate 49, Figs. 3 [male], 4 [female].) {125}

The long caterpillar is pale greyish-brown, with three dusky lines on the back; the black spiracles are set in a pale stripe, and below this is a dusky line; head small and round (Barrett). August to May. The natural food appears to be _Valeriana officinalis_, and _Spiraea_, but it has been reared from the egg on groundsel, knotgra.s.s, etc., also hawthorn, and moths obtained the same year, about September.

In the open the moth is to be found in fens, bogs, and marshy places in fields and woods, during June and July. It is not uncommon, in suitable spots, in most of the southern and eastern counties of England. In the west, including Wales, and through the Midlands, it is local to Yorks.h.i.+re, but is widely distributed in the south of the latter county; it occurs, rarely, in Durham. In Scotland it has only been definitely noted from Arran. Widely distributed, and common, in many parts of Ireland.

Abroad, the range extends to Amurland.

THE MULLEIN WAVE (_Acidalia_ (_Leptomeris_) _marginepunctata_).

This species exhibits more variation than is usual in this group.

Typically, the moth is greyish white, but in some specimens the grey is most in evidence, and in others the white. A practically black form, with white fringes, has been noted from North Cornwall, and at Eastbourne and Portland many of the specimens have a clear, bone-coloured ground, with fine but very distinct cross-markings; these seem to be referable to ab.

_pastoraria_, Joannis. The cross lines in both dark and light forms are sometimes very indistinct, but occasionally the first and second of the fore wings are united, and so form an irregular dusky band; the greyish clouding on the outer marginal area is also variable. Three {126} specimens are shown on Plate 49; two from Eastbourne, Figs. 5 [female], 6 [male], and one from Ess.e.x, Fig. 7 [female].

The long caterpillar is very pale slaty-olive, with three paler lines along the back, the central one edged on each side with olive, darkest on the last three rings; spiracles black, and under surface of the body pale slate blue (adapted from Porritt). It feeds on various low-growing plants, among which, yarrow, mugwort, chickweed, cinquefoil, and knotgra.s.s have been mentioned; also, it is said, on sallow. There are certainly two broods in the south, one feeding up in the summer, and the other hatching in September, and after hibernation attaining full growth in May or June.

Moths of the first generation are on the wing in June and July, and of the second in August and September. Although sometimes found inland, the species is more especially attached to the coast, and is found in nearly all the seaboard counties of England, Wales, and Ireland. In Scotland, it occurs in Wigtowns.h.i.+re, and very dark specimens have been obtained on rocks in dry pastures at Ardrossan; June to end of July.

THE LEWES WAVE (_Acidalia_ (_Leptomeris_) _immorata_).

Although the late Mr. S. Stevens exhibited a British specimen of this species, as a curious variety of _Strenia clathrata_, at a meeting of the Entomological Society of London in 1868, it was not until the year 1887, when Mr. C. H. Morris captured two specimens in Suss.e.x, that the insect became recognized as a native. It is probable that the earlier example, taken some years before it was shown at the meeting referred to, may have come from the same locality in the Lewes district where the later specimens were captured. Anyway, the species has, so far, not been recorded from any other part of our islands, but it continues to be found in its original haunts, described as "some heathy ground," up to the present day. (Plate 49, Fig. 9.) {127}

The long, slender, and roughened caterpillar is pale greyish brown; the central line along the back is greyish-white, each side edged on the hinder half with brown, having at the beginning of each ring after the third a black dot on either side; side stripes dark brown, inclining to black above; a slender brown line below the black spiracles. (Adapted from Barrett.) It feeds from August to May on ling (_Calluna vulgaris_), marjoram, thyme, knotgra.s.s, etc.

From eggs laid on July 1 and 2 caterpillars hatched on July 17 and 18.

These were placed on leaves of ribwort plantain (_Plantago lanceolata_), and as soon as large enough transferred to a potted plant, and kept out of doors. Two of the caterpillars grew up quickly, and on August 24 were taken indoors, where they spun up for pupation, one on August 28, and the other on September 1. A female moth emerged September 14 from the first chrysalis (F. C. Woodbridge, 1906).

The range abroad extends to East Siberia and Amurland.

THE SUB-ANGLED WAVE (_Acidalia_ (_Leptomeris_) _strigilaria_).

This species is greyish white, sometimes brownish-tinged; dusky cross markings, of which the oblique shade following the central black dot of the fore wings, and that before the central black dot of the hind wings, are usually most distinct, forming a narrow band across both pairs of wings; the outer margin of the hind wings is angled.

The long, slender caterpillar has a roughened appearance; the colour is greenish grey, and the markings comprise a dull green line along the middle of the back, spotted with black on each side; the grey head is variegated with very pale brown. (Adapted from Porritt.)

This species (Plate 49, Fig. 8) was known to Haworth, who gave it the English name which it bears to-day. Stephens, {128} writing of it in 1831, states that it was very rare, and that specimens in his collection were from a lane near Darenth, in Kent. With one exception (Hastings, Suss.e.x, 1876), the only present known locality in the British Isles for the species is the Warren, near Folkestone, Kent, where it was discovered in 1859. Here it occurred more or less freely for several years, then it became scarce, and finally, about 1890, seemed to be practically extinct. In 1906, however, Mr. G. H. Conquest netted a female specimen in the Warren on July 24, and as she laid a few eggs, it may be presumed that others had been deposited before capture. From the eggs obtained by Mr. Conquest, nine moths were reared in July, 1907. The caterpillars thrived on traveller's joy (_Clematis vitalba_), which is probably the natural food; but they will also eat dandelion, knotgra.s.s, etc., and like the withered leaves. By keeping in a warm place, it is possible to get moths out the same year, but, as a rule, the caterpillars prefer to hibernate.

The range abroad extends to Amurland, China, Corea, and j.a.pan.

THE ROSY WAVE (_Acidalia_ (_Leptomeris_) _emutaria_).

Figure 10, Plate 49, shows an example of this species, which also has angled hind wings. In coloration it is whiter and more silky than the last, and when fresh is delicately tinged with pink; the first and second lines are dotted or represented by dots, and the greyish central shade is obliquely inclined in the direction of the tips of the wings. In the marshes on the Ess.e.x and Kentish coasts the species is generally rather more rosy (ab. _subroseata_, Haworth), but this form occurs occasionally in the New Forest also. The long, slender caterpillar is whitish ochreous, inclining to pinkish; on the back of each ring is a broad grey shade enclosing a white spot, and a faint grey line on each side. Spiracles, black, with black spots below them on {129} rings four to eight; undersurface bluish-grey with a central white stripe. (Adapted from Fenn.) When reared from the egg, the caterpillar will feed on knotgra.s.s, chickweed, birdsfoot trefoil, etc. The moths sometimes appear in August or September, but the more usual habit of the larva is to hibernate when small and complete growth in the following spring.

The moth, which is out in July and early August, conceals itself by day among the vegetation growing in its somewhat restricted haunts. These are chiefly the marshes on the east coast, and similar spots in Kent and Suss.e.x; also the bogs of Hamps.h.i.+re and Dorset, but especially those between Lyndhurst and Brockenhurst in the former county. It is not readily put up during the day, but towards evening it becomes active on the wing, and after its flight may be found sitting about upon the herbage.

Abroad, it seems to be pretty much confined to Southern Europe and North-west Africa.

THE SMALL BLOOD-VEIN (_Acidalia_ (_Leptomeris_) _imitaria_).

All the wings of this pale reddish-brown species are angulated (Plate 49, Figs. 11 and 12). A conspicuous character is the reddish or purplish-red stripe crossing both the wings, and to which its English name no doubt refers. It varies somewhat in the amount of reddish in the general coloration, also in the tint and the width of the prominent oblique cross stripe.

The early stages are shown on Plate 48, Figs. 2-2b. The eggs, when laid on June 18 and 19, were whitish-green, but soon turned pinkish, inclining to coral red. The caterpillars hatched July 3 to 6, and were reared on a diet of privet leaves--a food that I have always found they preferred to any other that has been offered to them, and upon which I have found them in the open. They are exceedingly easy to rear, and if, as sometimes happens, they refuse to feed up and get through to the moth state in {130} September of the same year, they do not die off during the winter or early spring, as do so many larvae of other hibernating species. Enclosed in a suitable receptacle, such as a roomy gla.s.s cylinder, with some twigs of privet plugged in a bottle of water, the caterpillars may be left in any odd corner until spring, when fresh twigs should be introduced from time to time. Other food plants are dock, groundsel, dandelion, knotgra.s.s, bedstraw, etc. In colour the caterpillar is pale ochreous brown, with three darker brown lines on the back, the central one broken on the front rings, and the others edged above with whitish; the spiracles are black, and the stripe along the side pale drab.

The moth affects hedgerows, banks, bushy places on rough sloping ground, and sandhills by the sea. It flies in the evening, and may be met with in July and August, sometimes in September, in most English and Welsh counties, and in the south of Ireland. It is local and somewhat rare in Northern England, and seems not to occur in Scotland.

TAWNY WAVE (_Acidalia_ (_Leptomeris_) _rubiginata_).

This attractive little moth (Plate 50, Figs. 1, 2), known also as _rubricata_ Fab., varies in colour from ochreous brown with a purplish or reddish tinge, to purplish brown or crimson; the first line of the fore wings is curved, and the second is parallel with the central shade.

Sometimes the s.p.a.ce between the last two lines and between the first and second lines of the hind wings is paler than the general colour. A dusky brown form has been recorded from boggy heaths in Norfolk.

The roughish caterpillar, which gradually tapers to the notched head, is greyish inclining to yellowish or greenish; three blackish lines on the back, the central one widened on the middle rings, and the others only distinct on the front rings; a black-edged pale line above the black spiracles, and a dusky stripe below them (Barrett). It feeds from August to May on clover, trefoil, {131} knotgra.s.s, etc. Sometimes as a second generation in June and July.

According to Stephens, who figured this species in 1831, a specimen was taken, near Dover, somewhere about 1825; he also refers to Yorks.h.i.+re specimens, one of which he had in his collection. Since that time the species has been obtained in Lancas.h.i.+re (Ashton-on-Mersey), and it was noted, not uncommon from the first to third week in July, 1875, on low heathery ground at Winch Bridge, Upper Teesdale, Durham. Casual specimens have also been recorded from Folkestone, Kent; Hastings, Suss.e.x, and South Devon. The last concerns a specimen taken in the Newton Abbot district in 1902. What may be termed the British home of the species is, however, the Breck sand district in the eastern counties, where, since 1860, it has been found in greater or lesser plenty, in June, each year up to the present time. The best known localities are Tuddenham, Brandon, Thetford, and Bury St. Edmunds. It sits among the vegetation in fields or the borders thereof, and also on heaths. Occasionally, it indulges in flight in the afternoon, but it is more often put up as the collector approaches its place of retreat. At night it is usually active, and light has a strong attraction for it.

Abroad, its range extends to Amurland and Corea.

THE SMOKY WAVE (_Acidalia_ (_Pylarge_) _fumata_).

The s.e.xes of this greyish-white moth are figured on Plate 50, Figs. 4 [male], 5 [female]. It will be seen that the female is smaller than the male. The caterpillar is very slender, and finely wrinkled; pale ochreous brown, with three pale lines along the back, each of which is shaded on both sides with brown. Beneath the ridge, low down along the sides, is a dark stripe, and the under surface is pale. It feeds on bilberry, sallow and heather, and will eat knotgra.s.s, chickweed, and dandelion. Hatching in August, it {132} hibernates when nearly mature, but it resumes feeding in the spring. The moth is out in June and July, and frequents moors and mosses. Plentiful in Scotland and in the north of England, its range extends through Wales and the west of England to Devons.h.i.+re, where it occurs on Exmoor and is common in some parts of that extensive area. In Ireland, recorded by Birchall as widely distributed; Kane notes it from counties Kerry, Waterford, and Galway.

The range abroad extends to Amurland and j.a.pan.