The Moths of the British Isles Volume I Part 42

The ground colour of the species shown on Plate 157, Figs. 7, 8, is usually some shade of purplish grey, ranging from very pale to dark; the cross lines are often indistinct, but occasionally they show up clearly; the central shade, usually in evidence, is sometimes almost blackish and broadened out to the second line; the orbicular and reniform have pale margins but the centres are frequently no darker than the general colour.

The egg is greyish white with dark grey girdled dot.

When full grown the caterpillar is whitish or yellowish green, but always whitish on the back: three white lines on the back, the central one rather broad; head ochreous brown with a blackish spot on each side. It feeds from April to June on aspen chiefly, but also on other kinds of poplar, hiding by day between two leaves. The moth is out in March and April, and may be found on the sallow catkins. It seems to be more or less rare in the South of England, but it is locally not uncommon in many parts of the country from Middles.e.x northwards to Yorks.h.i.+re. Farther north it is again infrequent, and this is also the case in Scotland and in Ireland. {330}

THE CLOUDED DRAB (_Taeniocampa incerta_).

Six specimens of this most variable species are shown on Plate 157, Figs. 1 to 6. To refer in detail to all the forms, named or otherwise, would occupy much s.p.a.ce, so that it can only be stated here that the general colour of the fore wings ranges from pale greyish brown, through various shades of reddish brown, to deep brown or purplish brown; the darker greys range through slaty grey to purplish black. In all the lighter shades the wings are usually much variegated, but they may be nearly or quite plain.

The egg is yellowish white with brown girdled dot.

The caterpillar is green, minutely freckled with whitish; three white lines on the back, the central one broadest; a white stripe, edged above with black, along the sides; usual dots black, minute, ringed with whitish; head yellowish green with a few black dots. It feeds on sallow, oak, hawthorn, also on apple, elm, etc. (Plate 156, Fig. 2.) The moth is generally to be found at sallow-bloom in almost every part of the British Isles.

THE TWIN-SPOTTED QUAKER (_Taeniocampa munda_).

The fore wings range in ground colour from very pale ochreous (typical) or pale greyish (var. _pallida_, Tutt), through reddish shades to a dingy brown. The black or brownish twin spots on the middle of the submarginal line are sometimes accompanied by others above and below them (var.

_geminatus_). In var. _immaculata_, Staud., the "twin spots," and also the others, are absent. (Plate 158, Figs. 11, 12.)

The caterpillar (Plate 159, Fig. 1) is pale brown minutely freckled with darker; a whitish line along the centre of the back finely edged with black; a broad velvety black stripe along the sides, edged with whitish; head reddish brown, freckled with darker. It feeds from April to June on elm, oak, sallow, plum, etc. The moth is out in March and April, but a specimen has been taken at "ivy bloom" in the autumn. Plum blossoms, as well as the sallow catkins, are an attraction to this moth, and it will also visit the sugar patch. The species probably occurs in most woodland districts throughout the greater part of England and Wales. It seems to be found in South Scotland, but is local and infrequent; in Ireland it is widely spread in the north, but uncommon in the south.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 158.

1, 2. COMMON QUAKER MOTH.

3-7. POWDERED QUAKER.

8. BLOSSOM UNDERWING.

9, 10. SMALL QUAKER.

11, 12. TWIN-SPOTTED QUAKER.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 159.

1. TWIN-SPOTTED QUAKER: _caterpillar_.

2. SMALL QUAKER: _caterpillar_.

3, 3a. RED CHESTNUT: _caterpillar and chrysalis_.

{331} THE NORTHERN DRAB (_Taeniocampa opima_).

The dark form (var. _brunnea_, Tutt) (Plate 157, Fig. 10 [male]) has the outlines of the orbicular and reniform stigmata, and the submarginal line pale and distinct; sometimes the general colour is much blacker than in the specimen shown. In the more typical greyish form (Fig. 9 [female]) the central area is blackish or dark reddish brown. The caterpillar is olive green above, inclining to yellowish beneath; three pale lines on the back, and a yellow stripe along the black-edged white spiracles; head olive green. It feeds from April to June on sallow, willow, birch, rose, etc. The moth flies in March and April.

As suggested by the English name, this moth was supposed to be confined to the northern counties from Ches.h.i.+re to c.u.mberland and Northumberland, but it occurs more locally in Herefords.h.i.+re, Worcesters.h.i.+re (Wyre Forest), Somerset, Gloucester, and Wales; also in Ess.e.x, Surrey, and Suss.e.x. Renton records it from Roxburghs.h.i.+re in Scotland, and Kane states that it is local in Ireland.

THE POWDERED QUAKER (_Taeniocampa gracilis_).

In the ordinary English form of this species (Plate 158, Figs. 3 [male], 4 [female]) the fore wings are pale whity brown, more or {332} less tinged with grey; the submarginal line, and the stigmata, are usually distinct, but the other cross lines are only indicated by blackish dots on the veins.

In Ireland the specimens are creamy white and very often tinged with pink (Fig. 5), but in the New Forest, Hants (Fig. 7), and in the marshes of North Kent (Fig. 6), deep purplish grey, purplish brown, and reddish (var.

_rufescens_, c.o.c.kerel) forms occur.

The caterpillar is green, sometimes tinged with yellowish or with bluish; usual spots whitish; three whitish or yellowish lines along the back and one along the sides, the latter shaded above with dark green or blackish; head ochreous brown. It feeds from May to July on meadow-sweet (_Spiraea_), fleabane (_Inula_), purple loosestrife (_Lythrum salicaria_), yellow loosestrife (_Lysimachia vulgaris_), sweet-gale, sallow, bramble, etc. The moth is out in April and May, and is often plentiful at damson and plum blossom, as well as sallow catkins. The species is widely distributed throughout the greater part of the British Isles, but is perhaps more generally common in the southern and eastern counties of England. The range abroad extends to j.a.pan.

PEUCEPHILA ESSONI, Hampson.

_Trans. Ent. Soc., Lond._, 1909, Part IV., Pp. 461-463, Pl. xvi., Fig. 1, Dec. _Entom._, 1909, p. 258. See Appendix. {333}

APPENDIX.

Page 28. HERSE CONVOLVULI.--Reported from several English counties, August and September, 1911, and again in 1915. In 1917 the species seems to have been more widely spread over our islands, specimens being recorded from Ireland and Shetland.

Page 41. PHRYXUS LIVORNICA.--Further records are: In July, 1909, a dead male specimen was found under an electric light standard at Exeter, and one was noted on a bowling green at Blackpool in October. Specimens were recorded from Surrey, Suss.e.x, Hants, Devon, and Cornwall in 1911. On January 19, 1912, a male was taken from a shrub in a garden at Tavistock.

Thirty-five were captured in South Cornwall between May 9 and 23 of the same year, and single specimens were reported from North Wales, Norfolk, Dorset, also in May.

Page 47. DAPHNIS NERII.--Further records: Ilfracombe, September 22, 1909; Sydenham, September 24, 1910; Eastbourne (August 15), Ashford, 1911; Folkestone, August 30, 1916, on trunk of poplar tree; Littleover, Derbys.h.i.+re, in a conservatory, August 18, 1917; Dovercourt, Ess.e.x, September, 1919. {334}

Page 141. NOLA CONFUSALIS.--A grey form of this species, ab. _columbina_, Image, has been recorded from Epping Forest.

Page 146. SARROTHRIPA REVAYANA.--A number of forms of this species are named and described by Mr. Sheldon in the _Entomologist_ for 1919.

Page 268. LUPERINA GUENEEI.--Over thirty years ago the late Mr. Baxter, of St. Anne's, Lancas.h.i.+re, sent me a specimen of _Luperina_ that he had captured in his district. This I considered to be a form connecting _gueneei_ with _nickerlii_, and that both were forms of _L. testacea_.

Since that time _gueneei_ has been found in some numbers on the Lancs.

coast, and has been recognized as a distinct species, and its ident.i.ty with _nickerlii_ established.

The earlier published history of this species in Britain may here be quoted: "The late Mr. J. B. Hodgkinson, in a note on _Luperina gueneei_, published in the _Entomologist_ for 1885, vol. 54, wrote:--'In 1860 or 1861, T. Porter (still living) brought me two fine specimens of a moth I did not know. They were of both s.e.xes. I purchased them from him, and sent them on to the Rev. H. Burney, who forwarded them to Henry Doubleday. From him they went to Guenee, and he returned them with the remark that he had a specimen in his collection marked as a variety of _L. testacea_, but he was quite satisfied they represented a good species when he saw both s.e.xes. H.

Doubleday then named them after Guenee, as the latter was evidently the original captor. I saw Porter again, and he told me another man, by name H.

Stephenson, had one. They took three in all near the ferry at Rhyl, North Wales. I sent Porter again, and went myself, but we failed to find more afterwards. I bought the specimen from Stephenson, and sent it to Miss Sulivan, of Fulham, where, I suppose, it remains. I think it was a female.'" {335}

According to Barrett (_British Lepidoptera_, IV., p. 335), the three North Wales specimens "were raked from overhanging edges of sandhills."

Page 294. HYDROECIA CRINANENSIS.

"HYDROECIA CRINANENSIS, Burrows. Larger than _H. nict.i.tans_. F.-w.

slightly pointed at the apex, bright red-brown, longitudinal and transverse lines very distinct, fringes concolorous. Orbicular stigma, lighter than the ground colour. Reniform stigma orange, full, fairly straight edged inwardly, lower lobe projecting outwardly, interior lines faint. H.-w. red-brown, darker towards the outer margin; fringes yellow, the yellow colour intruding in dots upon the darker margin.

"Type specimen taken by Mr. A. W. Bacot at Crinan Ca.n.a.l, September, 1899."

The above is extracted from an instructive paper by the Rev. C. R. N.

Burrows, ent.i.tled, "On the _nict.i.tans_ group of the genus _Hydroecia_, Gn.," published in the _Transactions of the Entomological Society_, 1911, pp. 738-749, plates li.-lviii. In this paper specific rank is also claimed for _lucens_, Frr., and _paludis_, Tutt, both of which have been considered as merely forms of _H. nict.i.tans_, L.

_H. crinanensis_ has been recorded from Inveran, Crinan Ca.n.a.l, Aberfeldy, and Liddelbank, in Scotland; from Lough Foyle and Enniskillen, in Ireland; and from Bolton and Burnley, in England.

Page 298. NONAGRIA NEURICA.--In 1907, when the first edition of this volume was published, the fact of _N. neurica_ being a British species was not truly ascertained. In the following year, however, some specimens of _Nonagria_, which were not identical with _N. dissoluta_, Treit. = _arundineata_, Schmidt, were named _edelsteni_, Tutt. {336}

Quite a number of _N. edelsteni_ were obtained by Messrs. Wightman and Sharp in the Cuckmere Valley of Suss.e.x, July, 1908.

At a meeting of the Entomological Society of London, held on November 4, 1908, a series of bred _edelsteni_ from Suss.e.x was exhibited by Mr.

Edelsten.

By a consensus of opinion among entomologists, Suss.e.x specimens are now considered to be true British representatives of _neurica_, Hubn., Fig.

381.