The Moths of the British Isles Volume I Part 30

On Plate 117, Fig. 3 represents the typical grey form of this species, and Fig. 4 the black var. _pa.s.setii_, Thierry-Mieg. Intermediates occur connecting the melanic form with the type, and sometimes specimens are found of a paler hue than the type. Bred specimens occasionally have a rosy tinge, and this is then usually most in evidence between the first and second cross lines. The caterpillar is brown, with three ochreous lines on the back, the outer with dark oblique dashes on each ring; a whitish stripe along the spiracles is blotched with reddish, and edged above with black.

It feeds in the autumn on dock, plantain, primrose, dandelion, etc., and in the spring on bramble, bilberry, sallow, heather, and birch, among other things. Usually it hibernates when small, but when kept indoors, and fairly warm, it can be induced to complete growth, and attain the moth state in October or later, sometimes even earlier. In the open the moth flies from the end of June to August.

Scotland appears to be the British home of the species, and it is found in most woods throughout that country, including the isles, but it is rare in the Shetlands. It occurs in Durham (rare), and in Yorks.h.i.+re was not uncommon at Everingham in 1897, and several were obtained at Middlesbrough in 1900. Further south its occurrence is even more casual, and the most recent captures I have any note of are, two specimens in Lincolns.h.i.+re, August, 1896, and one each in Norfolk and North East London, August, 1900.

Also recorded from Ess.e.x. Only two specimens are known from Ireland.

The range abroad extends to Amurland, Corea, and to North America.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 116.

1, 2, 5, 6. BROAD-BORDERED YELLOW UNDERWING.

3. LESSER BROAD-BORDERED YELLOW UNDERWING.

4. LEAST YELLOW UNDERWING.

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Pl. 117.

1, 2. GREEN ARCHES.

3, 4. GREAT BROCADE.

5. SILVERY ARCHES.

6. PALE s.h.i.+NING BROWN.

{237} THE SILVERY ARCHES (_Aplecta_ (_Mamestra_) _tincta_).

The moth represented on Plate 117, Fig. 5, has the fore wings silvery grey clouded with brownish on the central area; or occasionally spreading over a larger portion of the wings, and sometimes purplish in tint. The caterpillar is brownish inclining to reddish, clouded on the back with paler and darker brown. The central line, which has a broken blackish edging, is only distinct on the front rings. Spiracles black; head pale brown marked with darker brown. In the autumn it feeds on low plants such as dock, plantain, etc.; but in the spring it is found at night on the young growth of birch and sallow bushes, and more rarely on hawthorn, and I believe, on bilberry. The moth which occurs in birch woods in June and July, is not uncommon in the south of England from Ess.e.x to Hamps.h.i.+re, and has been found in Dorset and Devons.h.i.+re. It has also been obtained more or less frequently in Berks.h.i.+re, Oxfords.h.i.+re, Cambridges.h.i.+re (once), Huntingdon, Worcesters.h.i.+re (Wyre Forest and Malvern), Staffords.h.i.+re (north), Lancas.h.i.+re (Witherslack), Yorks.h.i.+re (Huddersfield, once), and Westmoreland. In Scotland it ranges on the west from Ayr to Argylls.h.i.+re, but although local is more frequent in Perths.h.i.+re, Moray, and Sutherland.

Var. _obscurata_, Staud., is a form of this species occurring in Amurland and Southern Siberia.

THE PALE s.h.i.+NING BROWN (_Aplecta_ (_Mamestra_) _advena_).

This moth (Plate 117, Fig. 6) is pale reddish brown and glossy, especially on the outer area, on the fore wings. The caterpillar {238} is pale ochreous brown above, and inclining to greenish below; three dark-edged pale lines, and a series of dark diamond-shaped marks on the back. The usual dots are whitish encircled with blackish, and the blackish edged spiracles are reddish brown; head olive brown, and plate on first ring blackish with the three lines showing distinct. From July to September it feeds on various low plants, including rest-harrow, dandelion, and knotgra.s.s, also on broom, bilberry (Barrett); and Newman mentions sowthistle (_Sonchus_) and lettuce. In confinement the moth sometimes emerges in the autumn, but in the open it flies in June and July. Flowers seem to have more attraction for it than sugar. I have taken it at the blossoms of wood sage, white campion, and woundwort (_Stachys_), and Barrett notes, bladder campion, viper's bugloss, and the martagon lily. The species is chiefly found, as regards England, in the southern and eastern counties; and in the Solway, Clyde, Forth, and Tay districts of Scotland.

Louth is the only Irish county from which it has been reported. The range abroad extends to Amurland. In North America the species is represented by var. _purpurissata_, Grote.

THE GREY ARCHES (_Aplecta_ (_Mamestra_) _nebulosa_).

Grey of some shade is the more general hue of this species, but it varies in the West of England and in Ireland to white (var. _pallida_, Tutt), and this form is shown on Plate 119, Fig. 3. In Ches.h.i.+re (Delamere), Lancas.h.i.+re (Warrington), and South Yorks.h.i.+re black or blackish forms occur, and two examples of this melanic race are portrayed on the plate, Fig. 4 being var.

_robsoni_, Collins, and Fig. 5 var. _thompsoni_, Arkle. Over the greater part of England, and in Scotland, the greyish form is most frequently met with, but the white form has been found in Argylls.h.i.+re and in Sutherland.

The caterpillar is ochreous brown or brownish grey, with a series of diamond-shaped blackish marks, and a pale central line, on the back; {239} the dots and the spiracles are black, each of the latter with a blackish streak in front of it. In the autumn it feeds upon dock and other low plants; but in the spring, when it is more easily found, the caterpillar eats the buds and young leaves of birch, oak, sallow, bramble, etc. The moth is out in June and July, and is not uncommon in woods. The black form seems to be peculiar to north England. In Amurland the species is represented by var. _askolda_, Oberthur, and in North America by var.

_nimbosa_, Guenee.

THE CABBAGE MOTH (_Barathra bra.s.sicae_).

The darker markings of this very common greyish moth are often very obscure, but the white outline of the reniform stigma, and the white submarginal line are usually distinct. The caterpillar varies in colour, but generally is some shade of dull brown or greenish, with the usual dots greyish or green tinged. The central line on the back is dusky, speckled with white, and the stripe low down on the sides is yellowish, greenish, or dingy brown; head ochreous brown marked with darker or greenish. Although it is exceedingly partial to the cabbage and other plants of the kind, it will feed upon almost every sort of low herbage, wild or cultivated.

Barrett states that it has been found feeding on oak. I have taken it from birch in the garden, and it is known to eat leaves of almost any tree or shrub that may be offered to it in confinement. July to October. The moth is out in June and July, and sometimes there is an emergence in September.

The species occurs over the whole of the British Isles, and abroad its range extends to India, Amurland, and j.a.pan. (Plate 120, Figs. 3[male], 6[female].)

THE DOT (_Mamestra persicariae_).

The striking feature of the bluish-black moth shown on Plate 120, Figs. 1, 2, is the brownish centred white reniform {240} stigma. Except that the yellowish submarginal line is sometimes obscured, the species is very constant in the British Isles. Abroad, a form without the white mark is known as _unicolor_, Staud., and one or two examples have been recorded as occurring in England, two in 1895 said to have been reared by a northern collector from caterpillars obtained in the London district. The caterpillar figured on Plate 129, Fig. 2, was pale green with darker green markings. In another form the colour is pale brown with the markings darker brown. It is found from August to October on all sorts of low plants, and in the garden, where it is often common in the suburbs of London, is very fond of the foliage of _Anemone j.a.ponica_ and lupin, among other plants.

The moth is out in July and August, but is not often common north of the Midlands, though it occurs, or has been found in almost all the counties of England. Its occurrence in Scotland seems to be doubtful, and Kane states that it is rare in Ireland, and almost absent from the northern counties.

Its range abroad extends to China and j.a.pan.

THE WHITE COLON (_Mamestra albicolon_).

Two specimens of this species are shown on Plate 120, Figs. 7, 8. It will be noted that, except for the two white dots at the lower outer edge, the outline of the reniform mark is very obscure; these dots are placed one below the other, thus forming a :, hence the English name of the moth.

Blackish specimens have been obtained on the east coast of Scotland.

The caterpillar is green or bluish grey, with a dark-edged pale central line; spiracles white, margined with black. Barrett states that it feeds in June and July, and probably as a partial second generation in September, on plantain, dandelion, and other low plants growing in sand; probably also on _Atriplex_, _Chenopodium_, and Cruciferae; but it is a larva of secret habits and is very little known.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 118.

1, 1a. LARGE YELLOW UNDERWING: _eggs and caterpillar_.

2. LESSER YELLOW UNDERWING: _caterpillar_.

3, 3a. LESSER BROAD-BORDER: _caterpillar and chrysalis_.

4, 4a. BROAD-BORDERED YELLOW UNDERWING: _caterpillar and chrysalis_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 119.

GREY ARCHES MOTH _and varieties_.

{241}

The moth, which flies in May and June, and again in July and August, frequents sandhills on the west, especially those of Yorks.h.i.+re, Lancas.h.i.+re, Ches.h.i.+re, and Wales. In Norfolk and Suffolk it is found in the Breck Sand district as well as on the coast, and it also occurs on the coasts of Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, but seems to be uncommon in most of these counties. In Scotland it occurs in suitable parts of the east coast to Aberdeen, and on the west coast to the Clyde; and in Ireland on the coasts of Kerry, Louth, and Derry.

THE BRIGHT-LINE BROWN-EYE (_Mamestra oleracea_).

The English name of this very common moth (Plate 120, Figs. 4, 5), applies to the majority of specimens, but now and then the ochreous, or yellow reniform stigma, referred to as the brown eye, is blurred and indistinct, and the white submarginal line may almost disappear. The ground colour of the fore wings ranges from reddish or purple brown to dark brown. The caterpillar (Plate 129, Fig. 1), varies from green to light brown, sometimes the brownish forms are tinged with pink; the body is minutely dotted with white, and the usual dots are black; the spiracles are white, margined with black, and placed on the blackish edge of a yellow stripe; there are three greyish, but frequently indistinct, lines on the back. It feeds from July to September on most low plants, and is often found in abundance under spreading clumps of goose-foot (_Chenopodium_), and has been noted in profusion upon tamarisk growing by the sea. The moth flies in June and July, sometimes in the autumn. Except, perhaps, in the Hebrides, it has been found throughout the British Isles.

THE LIGHT BROCADE (_Mamestra genistae_).

The moth portrayed on Plate 121, Fig. 1, is not given to much variation.

The central area enclosed by the cross lines is {242} more or less clouded with reddish or purplish brown, not extending, as a rule, below the black bar between the lines, but sometimes the inner area is clouded with purplish from the second cross line to the base of the wing. The caterpillar is pale olive greenish above, with brownish and blackish diamonds or V-shaped markings; three lines on the back are dark-edged but indistinct; a cloudy line along the white spiracles. The colour varies from greenish to brownish grey or purplish brown, and all shades may occur in the same brood. It feeds in July and August on broom, dyer's greenweed (_Genista tinctoria_), persicaria, and other low plants. The moth is out in May and June, and may be seen in the daytime on palings and other kinds of fencing, and also on tree trunks. It occurs in England from Worcesters.h.i.+re and Northampton southwards, but seems to be rarely met with northwards.

Four or five specimens were taken at electric light near Tarporley, Ches.h.i.+re, about 1900 (Day's List). It has been recorded from Ayr, Argyll, and Paisley in Scotland, but its occurrence in Ireland is doubtful. The distribution abroad ranges to Eastern Siberia.

THE DOG'S TOOTH (_Mamestra dissimilis_).

The example of this species shown on Plate 121, Fig. 2, is of the reddish-tinged pale brown form from Ess.e.x; but in that county, and also in other parts of England, the fore wings are sometimes clouded with sooty-brown. In other forms the fore wings are purplish or reddish brown, and the markings may be very distinct, or much obscured. The caterpillar is greenish or brown, minutely dotted with white, and freckled with dark greyish; the usual dots are black; there are indications of darker lines on the back, but these are not always clearly defined; the white spiracles are set in the black interrupted edge of a yellowish stripe. It feeds in July and August, on dock, plantain, etc. The moth flies in June and July, and occasionally in the autumn. Its haunts are marshy places, especially on the coast, and mosses; and it is found in most of the seaboard southern and eastern counties, and more rarely inland. Recorded from Ayr and Kirkcudbright in Scotland; is widely distributed in Ireland, and not rare in Louth and Kerry.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 120.

1, 2. DOT MOTH.

4, 5. BRIGHT-LINE BROWN-EYE.

3, 6. CABBAGE MOTH.

7, 8. WHITE COLON.

[Ill.u.s.tration]