The Moths of the British Isles Volume Ii Part 56

LARGE RED-BELTED CLEARWING (_Sesia culiciformis_).

This species (Plate 155, Fig. 4) is very similar to the last, but it is larger, and the fore wings are dusted with reddish scales towards the base, sometimes also along the inner margin. The belt on the body is generally red, not infrequently with an orange tinge, but it is sometimes yellow or far more rarely white.

The caterpillar, which is full grown in May, feeds on the inner bark of birch trees and bushes, apparently preferring the stumps left in the ground where stems have been cut down. It is not difficult to find, but as it is about two years in this stage it should not be taken until nearly or quite full grown, and it is safer to leave it until it has entered the chrysalis state. The moth is out in June, or sometimes at the end of May; it flies over birch and rests on leaves, and has been known to visit flowers of the wood spurge and the rhododendron.

Kent and Suss.e.x appear to be the counties most favoured by this species, but it occurs in most of the other English counties in which there are birch woods, certainly up to Yorks.h.i.+re, and probably further north, as it is found in Scotland (Clydesdale, Perths.h.i.+re, and Aberdeen). The Irish localities are Killarney, Ballinasloe, and Derry.

RED-TIPPED CLEARWING (_Sesia formicaeformis_).

This is another red-belted species, but it differs from either of the two immediately preceding in having the fore wings tipped with red. (Plate 155, Fig. 5.)

The caterpillar feeds in the twigs and stumps of osier (_Salix viminalis_), sometimes called "withe"; it is full grown about June. (Plate 156, Fig. 2; after Hofmann.) The moth is out in July and August; it is partial to marshes and other wet spots, {358} and is fond of a leaf as a resting place. Like the rest of its kind, it is very alert, and skips off quickly on one's approach. Probably the species is more widely distributed in England, but from the records, it only appears to have been noted from Kent, Hamps.h.i.+re, Somersets.h.i.+re, Gloucesters.h.i.+re, Herefords.h.i.+re, Derbys.h.i.+re, Yorks.h.i.+re, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridges.h.i.+re, and Ess.e.x.

SIX-BELTED CLEARWING (_Sesia ichneumoniformis_).

The inner and outer margins of the fore wings are tinged with orange, and there is an orange mark on the outer edge of the cross bar; the body of the male has seven yellow belts, and that of the female one less. (Plate 155, Fig. 6.)

The caterpillar feeds in the roots of bird's-foot trefoil (_Lotus corniculatus_), and kidney vetch (_Anthyllis vulneraria_); it is full grown about June. July and August are the months for the moth, and its haunts are on chalk downs, and on banks by the sea; it seems partial to the edges of chalk pits, sloping banks, and broken ground of undercliffs, etc. In such places it is to be seen on the wing in the early evening, and, I believe, in the early morning also. It has frequently been obtained by sweeping the net over herbage in the vicinity of the food plants.

Mr. W. H. Flint records (1902) the species from the Forest of Dean district, where, he states, he could easily have captured two dozen a day, as they flew over trefoils, etc.

The species occurs in most of the southern seaboard counties of England, from Kent to Cornwall and including the Isle of Wight; Surrey, Bucks., Ess.e.x, and other eastern counties, including Cambridge; and it has been recorded from Yorks.h.i.+re. On the western side of the country it is found in Somerset, Gloucester, Hereford, Worcester, Staffords.h.i.+re, and in South Wales. {359}

THRIFT CLEARWING (_Sesia muscaeformis_).

This is our smallest species of the genus, and it is further distinguished by narrow clear s.p.a.ces on the blackish, or bronzy, fore wings, three whitish bands on the body, and traces of a whitish line along the middle of the back. (Plate 155, Fig. 7.)

The caterpillar feeds on the roots of thrift or sea-pink (_Armeria vulgaris_), and is full grown about June. The moth is out in June and July, and seems to have a liking for the flowers of thyme.

This species (also known as _philanthiformis_, Laspeyres) frequents rocky places on the coasts of Devon (Torquay, Lynmouth, etc.), Cornwall, Wales; Isle of Man; Scotland (Aberdeens.h.i.+re); and Ireland (Saltee Islands, Wexford, and Seven Heads, Cork. Gregson recorded it from Howth).

FIERY CLEARWING (_Sesia chrysidiformis_).

The orange red colour on the fore wings, and of the tail tuft, at once distinguish this species (Plate 155, Figs. 8 [male], 9 [female]) from either of its British allies. The blackish body has two pale-yellow belts, but in the male the lower one is often double. As a rule, the body of the female is stouter than that of the male, but the bodies of some males appear quite as thick as those of the females, and the true s.e.x is only disclosed by the ciliated antennae, which is a character of the male alone.

The caterpillar feeds on the roots of dock and sorrel, and it is full grown about May. In June and July the moth is on the wing and flies in the suns.h.i.+ne, about noon, over the food plants.

The species occurs not uncommonly in the Warren at Folkestone, Kent. This locality, well known to entomologists, is a long stretch of rough broken ground lying between the railway {360} and the sea; and is probably the only spot in the British Isles where the Fiery Clearwing is almost certain to be found, either in its early or its perfect stage, at the proper season. The moth has been recorded from Eastbourne, Suss.e.x (1874), and from the Forest of Dean, Gloucesters.h.i.+re (1902).

HEPIALIDae.

Of the twenty-two Palaearctic species belonging to this family, nine appear to occur in Europe, and the range of five of these extends to the British Isles.

In some of the more recent systems of cla.s.sification, this family is relegated to almost the bottom of the scheme, and therefore occupies a much lower place than do the bulk of the families comprised in the old style "Micro-Lepidoptera." As, however, these insects, commonly called "Swifts,"

have long received the attention of collectors, and in collections usually occupy a position among the so-called "Bombyces," they have been included in the present volume.

GHOST MOTH (_Hepialus humuli_).

On Plate 157 are portraits of a male and a female of the typical form of this species (Figs. 1 [male] and 3 [female]); and two male examples (Figs.

2 and 4) of the Shetland race var. _thulensis_, Newman, better known perhaps as _hethlandica_, Staudinger, but the former is the older name. It will be noted that in the ordinary form the male has white wings, and that the female has yellowish fore wings marked with orange, and smoky hind wings. The Shetland male, represented by Fig. 2, has the fore wings whitish buff in colour with brownish markings similar in pattern to those of an ordinary female; the hind wings are blackish. The second example of _thulensis_ (Fig. 4) is somewhat similar in appearance to a typical female.

In other male specimens of this insular race the wings are pretty much of the typical colour, but the markings on the front pair are reduced both in number and size. Mr. H. McArthur, who has collected a good deal in the Shetland Isles, states that in Unst, the most northern island of the group, more or less typical _humuli_ were found on the cliffs facing south-east, whilst the majority of the specimens obtained in boggy meadows, etc., were of the _thulensis_ form.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 158.

1-3. MAP-WINGED SWIFT.

4-6. COMMON SWIFT.

7, 8. GOLD SWIFT.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 159.

1, 1a. COMMON SWIFT: _caterpillar and chrysalis_.

2, 2a. GHOST MOTH: _caterpillar and chrysalis (enlarged)_.

3. ORANGE SWIFT: _caterpillar_.

{361} The caterpillar feeds on the roots of plants, such as burdock, dandelion, dead-nettle, etc. It is full grown in May, and the moth is out in June and July. (Plate 159, Fig. 2; after Hofmann.) The males may be seen in the evening, sometimes in numbers in gra.s.sy places, swaying themselves to and fro without making progress, and appearing as though they dangled from the end of an invisible thread; the female flies straight, and, as a rule, in the direction of one or other of the pendulous males.

The species is generally distributed over the British Isles.

ORANGE SWIFT (_Hepialus sylvina_).

The male of this species (Plate 157, Figs. 5. [male], 6 [female]) usually some shade of orange brown, with greyish-edged white markings on the fore wings. Sometimes the female is orange brown, but more often it is some shade of grey brown.

The caterpillar (Plate 159, Fig. 3; after Hofmann) feeds on the roots of dock, bracken, viper's bugloss, etc., and is full grown about July. In late July and in August the moth may be seen in the early evening flying among bracken, and not infrequently around trees fairly high up. Occasionally, specimens are seen in the daytime on tree-trunks, fences, etc. At one time this species was known in the vernacular as "The Tawny and Brown Swift"; it is also "The Orange or Evening Swift" of Harris (1778) and the "Wood Swift"

of Newman. It is {362} common in many southern and eastern parts, but widely distributed over England, Wales, and Scotland to Moray. Only doubtfully recorded from Ireland.

MAP-WINGED SWIFT (_Hepialus fusconebulosa_).

At one time this species (the _velleda_ of Hubner) was known as the "Northern Swift," but as it is plentiful in North Devons.h.i.+re and Somersets.h.i.+re, and occurs less commonly in other southern English counties, that name is hardly suitable. Haworth's English name for it--"The Beautiful Swift"--does not quite meet the case, because, although the insect is prettily marked, it is scarcely beautiful. We have then to fall back on Donovan's Map-winged Swift as a popular name, and this seems a fairly apt one, as the markings on the fore wings are somewhat map-like in pattern, especially in the more typical specimens.

There is much variation in colour and in marking; some examples, chiefly those from Shetland, are prettily variegated. A uniform reddish-brown variety, ab. _gallicus_, Lederer, is depicted on Plate 158, Fig. 3; and a more or less typical specimen of each s.e.x is shown on the same plate (Figs.

1 [male], 2 [female]).

The caterpillar is ochreous white, with orange-brown plates, and rather paler raised dots; head, reddish brown, and spiracles black. It feeds on the roots of the bracken, and is full grown about May. The moth is out in June and July, and flies, in the gloaming, on hill slopes, heaths, and the edges of mosses and woods; it seems to be more active than either of the other British "Swifts"; at all events, I have always found it less easy to capture with the net.

The species is pretty generally distributed throughout the British Isles.

{363}

COMMON SWIFT (_Hepialus lupulina_).

Three examples of this species are shown on Plate 158. Fig. 4 is a typical male, Fig. 5 a whitish suffused variety, and Fig. 6 is a female. The latter s.e.x is generally devoid of marking, and in the male the stripes and dashes are far more conspicuous in some specimens than in others.

The glossy whitish caterpillar has a brown head; the plate on the first ring of the body is brownish, and the raised dots are pretty much of the same colour. It feeds on the roots of gra.s.s and other plants, and is full grown about April. A figure of the caterpillar, from a drawing in colour by Mr. A. Sich, and a photo of the pupa by Mr. H. Main, are shown on Plate 159, Figs. 1 and 1a; the latter is twice natural size.

The moth is out in June, or sometimes late May, and occasional specimens have been noted in September. It is more frequently seen at rest, on fences, etc., than either of the other species of the genus; but towards dusk it is on the wing, and may then be observed in large numbers careering over gra.s.s meadows or along stretches of green turf by the wayside.

Generally distributed, and often abundant, throughout the United Kingdom; and it occurs in Monaghan, Mayo, Galway, and Kerry, in Ireland.