The Moths of the British Isles Volume Ii Part 3

In some examples of this species (Plate 10, Figs. 4, 5) the oblique band of the fore wings is purplish, and in others red or reddish; the former are typical, and the latter are referable to ab. _ochreago_, Borkhausen. Often the band is incomplete, and sometimes it is only indicated by three more or less regular series of reddish dots (ab. _togata_, Esper). I have one example of this form from the Isle of Hoy, and another specimen from the same locality is somewhat similar, but the spots are not so well separated, and are purplish in colour.

The eggs (Plate 6, Fig. 3) are yellowish when laid, but become purplish later, and the ribs then appear whitish.

The caterpillar when young lives on catkins of the sallow, and when these fall it feeds on low-growing plants, but it will {20} eat the leaves of sallow and the seeds of wych-elm. It may be found from March to June.

The moth appears in September and October. It is widely distributed, and often common at the sugar patch, over the whole of England, Wales, Scotland up to Moray, and Ireland.

The range abroad extends to Amurland, j.a.pan, Kamtschatka, and North America.

THE SALLOW (_Xanthia fulvago_).

A typical male and female of this species are shown on Plate 10, Figs. 7, 8; Fig. 6 on the same plate represents ab. _flavescens_, Esper. Sometimes the fore wings are orange-tinged, and such examples having the typical markings well defined are referable to ab. _aurantia_, Tutt. In _cerago_, Hubner, the markings are fainter than in the type, and the orange-yellow modification of this form has been named _imperfecta_, Tutt.

The caterpillar is brown above with a tinge of red or purple, and freckled with darker; there are three pale lines along the back, but only the central one is distinct, and this is more or less interrupted by cl.u.s.ters of darker freckles; there is a darker stripe composed of freckles on the sides, and below this is a pale brownish stripe; head, brown, plate on the first ring of the body blackish with pale lines upon it. It feeds when young in sallow catkins, and later on low-growing plants, also leaves of sallow and seeds of wych-elm. Early stages are figured on Plate 6. The moth is out in September and early October. It is widely distributed, and generally common, throughout England and Wales, Scotland to Moray, and Ireland. Its range abroad extends to Amurland and j.a.pan.

NOTE.--It may be stated here that the present species, together with _aurago_, _lutea_, _fulvago_, _gilvago_, and _ocellaris_, are referred to _Cosmia_, Ochs. and Treit., by Hampson (_Cat. Lep. Phal._ vi. 497).

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 10.

1. ORANGE SALLOW.

6-8. THE SALLOW.

2, 3. BARRED SALLOW.

9, 10. DUSKY-LEMON SALLOW.

4, 5. PINK-BARRED SALLOW.

11. PALE-LEMON SALLOW.

12. ORANGE UPPER-WING.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 11.

1, 2. RED-HEADED CHESTNUT MOTH.

7-10. DARK CHESTNUT.

3-6. CHESTNUT MOTH.

11, 12. DOTTED CHESTNUT.

{21}

THE DUSKY-LEMON SALLOW (_Mellinia_ (_Xanthia_) _gilvago_).

Two examples of this species are shown on Plate 10, Figs. 9 and 10. The purplish-brown mottling or clouding and greyish suffusion of the fore wings is much denser in some specimens than in others. Often the suffusion is quite absent, and the purplish brown is only seen as spots. Again, in an almost unicolorous form the ground colour is of a pale orange tint, the cross markings and outlines of the reniform are as in the type, and the series of blackish points on the submarginal line, usually present in the type, are more conspicuous, owing to absence of the other usual dark markings; this seems to be the _palleago_ of Hubner, which has been considered a distinct species; I think, however, that it is only a form of _gilvago_. The earliest recorded British specimen of this form was taken at Brighton in 1856, and it and others captured in the same district were then thought to be examples of _M. ocellaris_, but their true ident.i.ty was established by Doubleday in 1859. Very few specimens of this form have been reported from other parts of England, but I have recently seen one that was taken at light in the Canterbury district, Kent, on October 3, 1907. In its typical form this species has an extensive range in England, spreading from Yorks.h.i.+re to Surrey and Suss.e.x. The earliest known British specimens were captured in the neighbourhood of Doncaster over sixty years ago, but its occurrence in Surrey seems not to have been noted until comparatively recent times.

The caterpillar is pinkish grey-brown, with three paler lines and a series of purplish diamonds along the back; the sides are mottled with purplish brown above the black spiracles, and striped with ochreous grey below them.

According to Buckler, whose description is here adapted, the four pale raised dots circled with dark brown, placed within the dark marks on the back of each ring, serve to distinguish this caterpillar from its {22} allies. It feeds on the seeds of wych-elm, and may be beaten or jarred from the branches in April and May. The moth is out in the autumn.

THE PALE-LEMON SALLOW (_Mellinia_ (_Xanthia_) _ocellaris_).

Although spa.r.s.ely marked yellowish examples of the last species have been mistaken for the present one, the true _M. ocellaris_ was not known to occur in Britain until 1893, when three specimens were taken at Wimbledon and Twickenham. In 1894 a specimen was recorded from Bognor in Suss.e.x, and another in West Dulwich. The following year one specimen was taken at Richmond, Surrey, and one at Ipswich, Suffolk. Three specimens were obtained at sugar in 1899, and five others in 1900, in a locality in North Kent. Odd specimens have also been noted as follows:--Suffolk, Beccles (1898), Woodbridge (1899); West Norfolk (1904 and 1906); Cambridge (1907).

The caterpillar, which is ochreous grey with black dots, feeds on poplar, and is stated by one continental author to live in the buds and catkins when young, and afterwards on low plants. So far, it has not been detected in England.

A German specimen of the moth is depicted on Plate 10, Fig. 11. From the last species this one is easily separated by the more pointed fore wings, by the white dot at lower end of the reniform stigma, and by the different shaped cross lines.

The moth has been taken at sugar or light in September and October.

THE ORANGE UPPER-WING (_Xantholeuca_ (_Hoporina_) _croceago_).

This species is shown in its typical form on Plate 10, Fig. 12.

Occasionally a dull reddish-brown form (ab. _latericolor_, Raynor) occurs, of which I some years ago reared several examples, {23} from eggs laid by a female taken at sallow in Darenth Wood, Kent.

The caterpillar (Plate 6, Fig. 1) is pale ochreous brown, inclining to orange, finely freckled with brown, and with brown V-marks on the back of rings 4 to 11; the line along the middle of the back is pale yellow, and there are two pale yellow spots on ring 11; head, pale brown, freckled with darker brown, and sometimes rosy tinged. It feeds on oak, and may be found in May and June.

The moth flies in September and October, and then visits ivy bloom and sugar at night; after hibernation it comes to sallow bloom. It has been found during the winter between dry leaves on oak twigs in the hedgerows.

Females taken late in the spring and enclosed in a chip box will probably deposit a good supply of eggs; caterpillars hatching from them are not difficult to rear.

The species does not appear to have been noticed in the eastern or northern counties of England, but it occurs from Worcester southwards to Somerset, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall. From Herefords.h.i.+re it spreads into Wales.

North of London it is found in Hertfords.h.i.+re, Middles.e.x, and to the south in Kent, Surrey, Suss.e.x, and Hamps.h.i.+re.

It is represented in j.a.pan by _sericea_, Butler, which is considered a distinct species by some authors.

THE RED-HEADED CHESTNUT (_Orrhodia_ (_Conistra_) _erythrocephala_).

The portraits of this species on Plate 11 are from Austrian specimens. Fig.

1 is typical and Fig. 2 is ab. _glabra_, Hubner.

A specimen was captured at Marlow, Bucks, in October, 1859, by Mr. A. H.

Clarke, who presented it to the British Museum in 1903; but perhaps the earliest-known British specimen was one taken near Brighton in 1847.

Between the {24} last-named Suss.e.x locality and Eastbourne in one direction, and Lewes in the other, one or more specimens of the type or of ab. _glabra_ have occurred from time to time, but there are no records from the county for a number of years now. The species has also been noted from Hamps.h.i.+re (New Forest and Bournemouth), Somerset, Devon, Kent (Darenth), and Hertfords.h.i.+re (St. Albans). The most recent records refer to two captures at Bournemouth in 1902.

THE CHESTNUT (_Orrhodia_ (_Conistra_) _vaccinii_).

Figure 3 on Plate 11 represents this species in its typical form, which is of a dark chestnut colour, and almost without markings. The brighter red modification of this form has been named ab. _rufa_, Tutt; while another a.s.suming the blacker hue of _O. ligula_ has been described as ab.

_unicolor_, Tutt. In some of the redder forms the cross lines are dark and conspicuous, thus approaching ab. _spadicea_, Hubner, which has distinct black lines as seen in Fig. 6. It should be noted that the figure just referred to is from a German specimen, as I was unable to obtain a suitable British example of the form. Another far more frequent form of this variable species is ab. _mixta_, Staud. (Fig. 4), in which the ground colour is ochreous, more or less tinged with red; the more yellow-coloured examples of this form have been separated under the name _ochrea_, Tutt.

Figure 5 shows a form that is rather less common than either of those just adverted to; the specimen is one of a short series from Kent that I have labelled ab. _suffusa_, Tutt; as will be noticed, the band on the outer area is in strong contrast to the rest of the fore wings. Apart from the above and other named forms, there is considerable aberration in the markings, and more especially as regards the stigmata. The lower extremity of the reniform is usually black or blackish, but it may be very faint or entirely absent, and as a contrast {25} to this, the orbicular sometimes has a blackish dot at its lower end.

The caterpillar feeds, in May and June, on oak, elm, etc., and also upon low-growing plants. It is reddish brown above, and greenish beneath, sometimes the upper surface is tinged with green also; the back is freckled with pale brown, and the three lines along it are faintly paler, the raised dots are whitish; head, glossy pale brown, freckled with reddish-brown, and lined with darker brown.

The moth occurs at sugar, ivy bloom, etc., in the autumn and early winter, also at sallow catkins in the spring, in probably almost all wooded localities throughout the British Isles.

Its range abroad extends to j.a.pan.

THE DARK CHESTNUT (_Orrhodia_ (_Conistra_) _ligula_).

Four examples of this species are shown on Plate 11. The typical form has a white band on the outer area of the fore wings (Fig. 7); sometimes this band is ochreous (ab. _subnigra_, Haworth), and a modification of this, in which the outlines of the stigmata and the veins are pale, is var.

_ochrea_, Tutt. Ab. _polita_, Hubner (Fig. 9), has a whitish-grey submarginal band and greyish cross lines, and ab. _spadicea_, Haworth (Fig.

10), is a dark form without any distinct markings. This species has long been incorrectly known as _spadicea_, Hubner, which, as noted above, is a form of _vaccinii_, L. Staudinger, probably to prevent confusion, deposed _spadicea_, Haworth, and set up _subspadicea_ in its place.

Fig. 8 represents a specimen from North Kent that somewhat suggests ab.

_suffusa_, Tutt, of the previous species. On comparing the outer marginal contour of the fore wings of these closely allied species, it will be noted that in all forms of _ligula_ the margin below the tip is always slightly concave, thus giving {26} the wings a decidedly pointed tip, a character which will serve to distinguish _ligula_ from _vaccinii_ in nearly every instance.