The Moths of the British Isles Volume I Part 20

The dark markings of the fore wings are most inconstant in size and in form; in some cases they are so greatly enlarged that these wings might be described as dark brown with narrow, irregular whitish markings (Plate 84, Fig. 1). On the other hand, but less frequently perhaps, the dark markings are narrowed, shortened, and reduced in number, until only spots remain on a white or creamy ground (Plate 84, Fig. 2). The red colour of the hind wings is sometimes crimson in tone, or it a.s.sumes an orange tint, and less often it gives place to yellow; the central spots often unite and form a band, or some, occasionally all, disappear; the marginal spots sometimes run into a band.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 82.

CLOUDED BUFF MOTH, 1 _male_; 2 _female_.

GARDEN TIGER MOTH, 3 _male_; 4 _female_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 83.

CLOUDED BUFF MOTH.

_Eggs natural size and enlarged; caterpillar._

{161} Besides aberration, such as that referred to above, curious abnormal specimens occur in the breeding cage from time to time, but these are often more or less deformed. It is, perhaps, remarkable, that so few "good things" in the way of varieties are obtained from collected caterpillars, even when these are reared by hundreds. Possibly, if the breeder started operations with a stock of eggs from unusually pale or unusually dark females, and then reserving only the lightest or the darkest, as required, of each generation to continue the experiment, some interesting light or dark "strains" might result in course of time. The objection to this is that before the desired result was obtained the stock might be weakened by "inbreeding," and the moths consequently deformed. If, however, the same line of experiment were conducted by several people, each living in a different part of the country, and with stock selected from the products of his own locality, eggs, caterpillars, or chrysalids might be exchanged, say, after the second year, and in this way the effect of "inbreeding"

would be minimized.

The caterpillar, generally known as the "Woolly Bear," is not at all an uncommon object throughout the country, and is, perhaps, even more often noticed in gardens, including those of suburban London. The figures of the early stages of this moth, on Plate 85, are all from material obtained in my own small garden. {162}

The foliage of pretty well all low plants, and tall ones, such as the hollyhock and sunflower, too, seem to be equally acceptable to this larva.

It is not often seen before hibernation, but in the early days of spring it will be noticed sunning itself on walls and fences that have a good crop of nettles, dock, or other weeds at their base or around them; or it may be searched for on the undersides of dock, etc. Mr. Frohawk records these caterpillars as swarming from mid-May to mid-June, 1904, in the Scilly Isles. He states that they occurred in such myriads that no vegetation escaped them, and that they devoured anything from stonecrop to the foliage of shrubs of various kinds. Every path and roadway was dotted all over with their crushed bodies.

In the open the moth is on the wing in July and sometimes in August. When kept indoors the caterpillars, or at least some of them, will feed up quickly and attain the moth state in September or October.

The species is distributed over the whole of Europe, except Andalusia, Sicily, and the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula, and its range extends through Asia to Amurland, Corea, and j.a.pan.

THE CREAM-SPOT TIGER (_Arctia villica_).

Although this moth does not vary to the same extent as its cousin the Garden Tiger, it is still subject to considerable aberration in the size, number, and position of the yellowish-white, or cream-coloured spots on the fore wings and of the black spots and hind marginal markings of the hind wings. The former are often much reduced in size, rarely perhaps so greatly as to leave the fore wings almost entirely black; but they are sometimes so greatly enlarged and united that these wings appear to be cream coloured with black markings. On the hind wings the black spots nearest the base are sometimes widened and lengthened so as to meet and form a transverse band; in other specimens the black markings on the outer area are run together into a patch. Occasionally both forms of hind wing aberration occur in the same specimen. I am not aware of any case in which the hind wings are spotless, but I have seen specimens in which this condition was very closely approached. Very rarely the hind wings are suffused with black, and at least two specimens with all the wings suffused with black have been recorded. (Plate 87, Figs. 1-3.)

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 84.

GARDEN TIGER _varieties_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 85.

GARDEN TIGER MOTH.

_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillars and chrysalis._

{163}

The pearly white eggs are laid in neatly arranged batches on leaves. The caterpillars hatch out in July, feed for a few weeks, and go into hibernation while still small. They resume feeding in a favourable season as early as mid-March. Some that I obtained at the end of March, then about three parts grown, began to spin up on April 15. The full-grown caterpillar is black with several star-like cl.u.s.ters of brown hairs on each ring, the hairs on the back of the hinder rings rather longer and slightly curved backwards; the head, legs, and claspers are red, approaching crimson. A diet of dandelion suits it very well, but it will also eat chickweed, dock, nettle, groundsel, and in fact almost any low-growing plant. The outer leaves of lettuce are useful on occasion but should not be given exclusively, and it also likes the tender shoots of gorse (_Ulex europaeus_). Chrysalis and coc.o.o.n somewhat similar to those of the last species (Plate 86).

The moth emerges in May and June. Occasionally a few larvae will feed up and the moths appear the same year, but this only happens in captivity and not in the open. When reposing in the daytime, on a hedgebank for example, with the fore wings closed down over and hiding the yellow hind wings this moth is not so conspicuous as one might suppose it would be. At night it is active on the wing and often flies into houses, attracted by the light. I have put up specimens now and then {164} in hay fields, and once found half a dozen along a short stretch of the Upper cliff at Ventnor, Isle of Wight.

It is perhaps most frequent in the south-west, but the species seems to be widely distributed and fairly common from Kent to Cornwall, and westward from Hamps.h.i.+re to Gloucesters.h.i.+re. It also occurs in the eastern counties to Cambridge and Norfolk. From Ches.h.i.+re it has been twice reported, and two specimens are said to have been taken, a few years ago, in the Lancaster district.

THE JERSEY TIGER (_Callimorpha quadripunctaria_).

This handsome species long known as _C. hera_, Linn., but for which Poda's earlier name _quadripunctaria_ must be adopted, has its English home in South Devons.h.i.+re. The species had been recorded as British as far back as 1855, when one moth was taken at Newhaven in Suss.e.x; in 1859 a specimen was obtained in North Wales, two were taken in Suss.e.x, 1868, and one was captured in the Isle of Wight in 1877. The last-mentioned example was kindly presented to me by the captor, Mr. Rowland Brown. For the county of Devon, the earliest record is that of a specimen netted in a garden at Alphington, near Exeter, in 1871, followed soon after by a report of others at a place near Lodderwell. Ten or eleven years later the moth was found at Dawlish, and in that neighbourhood and in other parts of a wide area stretching from Exeter to Teignmouth, and perhaps further west, it has been taken almost every year up to the present time (1907). Large numbers of eggs have been obtained and distributed among entomologists, many of whom have successfully wintered the caterpillars and eventually reared the moths.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 86.

CREAM-SPOT TIGER MOTH.

_Caterpillars, chrysalis and coc.o.o.n._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 87.

1, 2. CREAM-SPOT TIGER MOTH, _males_; 3 _female_.

{165} The princ.i.p.al variation is in the colour of the hind wings and the body, which usually are red, but in var. _lutescens_, Staud., are yellow; between the red and the yellow forms there are all kinds of orange and other intergrades. There is also variation in the black markings at the inner angle of the fore wings, some or all of which are sometimes absent. A specimen with the inner margin of the fore wings black instead of creamy-white has been recorded, and a specimen with whitish hind wings is stated to have been seen but not secured. The moth is shown on Plate 89, and the early stages on Plate 88.

The eggs, which are laid in batches, are pale yellowish when deposited, but a.s.sume a deep violet tint before hatching. Mr. W. Hewett (_Entom._ xxviii.) states that in the case of seventeen female moths that he captured in August, 1895, the average number of eggs laid by each was 133, and as regards fourteen batches of eggs, the caterpillars hatched out in fifteen or sixteen days.

When nearly full grown the caterpillar is blackish with an orange stripe along the back and a series of creamy white spots on the sides; the hairs, arising from s.h.i.+ning light brown warts, are pale brown mixed with greyish ones; spiracles black ringed with white, under surface greyish. Head black and glossy. It hatches from the egg in the autumn and goes into hibernation while still very small; reappearing in the spring and feeding on until July, when it spins a flimsy silken web-like coc.o.o.n well down among moss and litter. The food plants are dandelion, white deadnettle (_Lamium alb.u.m_), ground ivy (_Nepeta glechoma_), groundsel, plantain, nettle, borage (_Borago officinalis_), and lettuce.

The moth emerges in July and August in a state of nature, but often as early as June in confinement. It sits by day among the herbage, and in the bushes of hedgerows, but readily quits its retreat when disturbed. The normal time of flight is at night; and that light has an attraction for the moths is evident from the fact that they have been known to fly into cottages at the rate of three or four in an evening.

The species is distributed throughout Southern Europe, its {166} range extending to Holland, Belgium, and Livonia. It was known as an inhabitant of the Channel Islands long before it became established in England.

THE SCARLET TIGER (_Callimorpha dominula_).

Except in minor details this tropical-looking moth (Plate 89) seems little given to variation in England. In parts of Central and Southern Europe, and Asia Minor, striking forms occur, and some of these are very occasionally found with us. Among such rare aberrations in this country are var.

_rossica_, Kol., with yellow hind wings; and var. _bithynica_, Staud., with the spots on the fore wings yellow, and the hind wings of the normal crimson colour. A South European form, var. _persona_, Hubn., has the hind wings and body black, with some yellow marks on the basal area; spots on the fore wings smaller than in the type. Specimens approaching this form have been reported from Kent, which county is also noted for "black _dominula_." In the latter variety the hind wings, body, and spots on fore wings are blackish; it is exceedingly rare. A specimen taken at St.

Margaret's Bay, Kent, some years back has the spots on the fore wings blurred, due to a cloudy suffusion filling up the s.p.a.ce between them; the spots on the hind wings are pale.

Caterpillar, black, hairy, with bands of more or less connected spots, yellow or yellowish in colour, down the middle of the back, and along the sides; the hairs, arising from s.h.i.+ning black warts, are grey with some black ones intermixed. Head, glossy black. It hatches from the egg in July or August, feeds for awhile, then hibernates, and completes its growth in April or May. A number of plants have been mentioned as suitable food for these caterpillars, but the favourites are, perhaps, nettle, groundsel, hound's-tongue (_Cynoglossum officinale_), bramble, sloe, and sallow (Plate 88).

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 88.

1, 1a. JERSEY TIGER: _caterpillars and chrysalis_.

2, 2a, 2b. SCARLET TIGER: _eggs, caterpillar, chrysallis and coc.o.o.n_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 89.

1, 2. SCARLET TIGER MOTH.

3, 4. JERSEY TIGER MOTH.

{167}

The chrysalis is dark reddish, rather blacker above; enclosed in a silken coc.o.o.n spun up among leaves, etc., on the ground.

The moth emerges in June, and seems partial to marshy ground. It is found in the district between Dover and Deal commonly, and in other parts of Kent more rarely. Also in Hamps.h.i.+re, Devon, Dorset, South Wales, Gloucesters.h.i.+re, Wilts.h.i.+re, Berks.h.i.+re (water meadows by the Kennet), and Hertfords.h.i.+re (rare). Some years ago I found a few specimens in the Brandon district, but it is not plentiful in Suffolk, and is rare in or absent from Norfolk. It is found in Cambridges.h.i.+re, chiefly in Wicken fen.