The Moths of the British Isles Volume I Part 5

It will be seen from the above that the moth is exceedingly {48} rare in these islands. The species is an inhabitant of Africa, and its normal range extends along both sides of the Mediterranean through Asia Minor and Syria to India. In Europe, north of the Alps, the moth is seldom observed, and it is probably almost as scarce on most of the Continent as it is with us.

THE SMALL ELEPHANT (_Metopsilus_ (_Chaerocampa_) _porcellus_).

The fore wings of this hawk-moth are ochreous with a faint olive tinge; the front margin is edged and blotched with pinkish, and there is a broad but irregular band of the same colour on the outer margin. Hind wings blackish on upper margin, pinkish on outer margin, and ochreous tinged with olive between; fringes chequered whitish, sometimes tinged with pink. Head, thorax, and body pinkish, more or less variegated with olive; the thorax has a patch of white hairs above the base of the wings (Plate 19, Figs. 3, 4).

In most specimens there are at least traces of two cross-lines in the fore wings, the s.p.a.ce between these is sometimes brownish olive; the outer border of the hind wings varies in tint, and may be purplish. Occasionally the ground colour of the fore wings is greenish olive.

A hybrid, resulting from a pairing between _Chaerocampa elpenor_ and _Metopsilus porcellus_ has been named _elpenorcellus_ (Staud).

The egg is a rich full green and rather glossy; it is laid in June on yellow bedstraw and other kinds of _Galium_.

A full-grown caterpillar will measure quite two inches in length, and in general appearance is not unlike that of the next species. It is, however, greyish brown in colour, merging into yellowish brown on the front rings.

The head is greyer than the body; the usual Sphingid horn is absent, and in its place there is a double wart. When quite young the caterpillar is pale greyish green with blackish bristles, and the head and under surface are yellowish.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 18.

SMALL ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH.

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

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 19.

1, 2. ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH.

3, 4. SMALL ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH.

{49} It feeds, at night, in August and September, on bedstraw growing in dry places. It will eat almost any sort of _Galium_; also willow herb (_Epilobium_), and purple loosestrife (_Lythrum salicaria_).

The chrysalis is pale ochreous brown sprinkled with darker brown; the wing cases and the ring divisions are also darker. The body rings are furnished with reddish hooks. It is enclosed in a coc.o.o.n similar to that of the Elephant, and usually is on the ground. The early stages are figured in Plate 18.

The moth, which chiefly affects drier localities than the next species, is on the wing in May and June in the south of England, and June and July in the north. It has a weakness for the flowers of honeysuckle, and spur-valerian (_Centranthus_), but will take toll in the way of sweets wherever found, even from the sugar patches of the nocturnal collector.

Except that it does not appear frequently in the Midlands, the species seems to be widely distributed throughout the country. In Scotland its range extends to Perths.h.i.+re and Aberdeen; and in Ireland it is found all over the island, and is fairly plentiful in some localities, but especially attached to the coast.

Abroad, its distribution covers nearly the whole of Europe, and eastward to north-eastern Asia Minor, Bithynia, and the Altai.

THE ELEPHANT (_Chaerocampa_ (_Eumorpha_) _elpenor_).

The fore wings are olive brown with two pinkish lines, both shaded with dark olive brown; the first is rather broader than the second, and terminates just above the centre of the wing and near a white dot; the second line runs from the white inner margin to the tip of the wing, and the area beyond it is flushed with pinkish; there is a black mark at the base of the wings and the fringes are pinkish. The hind wings are black on the {50} basal half and pinkish on the outer half; fringes white. The head, thorax, and body are olive brown marked with pinkish, the thorax being additionally ornamented with white on the sides. The moth is shown on Plate 19, and the early stages on Plate 17.

The eggs are whitish-green in colour and rather glossy. Those I had were laid in June on a leaf of willow herb (_Epilobium_).

When newly hatched the caterpillar is yellowish white, and paler between the rings; the head is tinged with greenish, and the horn is black. The full-grown caterpillar measures nearly three inches in length, and is rather plump. It is blackish or brownish grey, thickly sprinkled with black dots on the back and more sparingly on the sides; the spiracles are ochreous ringed with blackish, and below them is an ochreous line, which is most distinct on the front rings; on each side of the third to fifth rings there is a round black spot, the second and third pairs enclosing black centred whitish lunules which are sometimes tinged with pink or yellow; the horn is much of the same colour as the body. There is a green form of this caterpillar.

It feeds, chiefly, at night, in July and August, on _Epilobium hirsutum_ and on bedstraw especially the kind (_G. pal.u.s.tre_), growing by the side of brooks and streams. The chrysalis is palish brown freckled with darker brown, the divisions between the rings and the spiked tail appearing blackish; enclosed in a coc.o.o.n formed of earth and sundry fragments of stalks, leaves, etc., spun together with silk and generally on the ground, but sometimes just under the surface.

The moth is on the wing in June, and very occasionally there is a late summer emergence. It does not fly until dusk, and may then be seen hovering over the blossoms of honeysuckle, etc. It is also known to be attracted now and then to "sugared" trees. The best plan, however, for obtaining a few fine specimens {51} is to rear them from eggs or caterpillars. The latter are said to come up to sun themselves about four o'clock in the afternoon, but they may be found at any time in their season, and in likely spots, by turning back the herbage and looking for them in their hiding-places. When in repose the head and front rings are drawn inwards, and this distends the eyed rings, thus bringing these into prominence and giving the creature a rather wicked look, from which the uninitiated would be likely to retreat.

The caterpillar, however, is quite harmless, and may be handled with impunity.

Although somewhat scarce in the more northern counties, this is a pretty common species throughout most of England and Wales. Its range extends into Scotland as far as Dumbarton, and, according to Barrett, along the east coast to Aberdeen. Kane states that in Ireland it is met with everywhere and is abundant in some localities. Distributed over Europe, except the more northern parts, and extending through Asia to j.a.pan.

THE HUMMING-BIRD HAWK-MOTH (_Macroglossa stellatarum_).

The brown fore wings with black cross lines, and the brownish bordered orange hind wings, at once separate this from any other hawk-moth occurring in our islands. Its greenish eggs are laid on bedstraw, and in July and August the caterpillars may be found on the same kind of plant. They are greenish or brownish covered with white dots; a whitish line runs along each side of the back and a yellowish one lower down on the sides; the spiracles are blackish, and the horn bluish shading into yellow at the tip.

The yellow-flowering bedstraw (_Galium verum_) seems to be the kind upon which the caterpillar is most often found, but it also occurs on the hedge bedstraw (_G. mollugo_). It has been known to eat wild madder (_Rubia peregrina_), and is {52} stated to thrive in confinement on goose-gra.s.s or cleavers (_G. aparine_). When full grown a loosely woven coc.o.o.n is formed on the ground beneath the food plant, or other herbage, and therein the caterpillar changes to an ochreous grey or brownish chrysalis. This is marked with darker brown on the wing covers and around the spiracles; the "tongue" case forms a small beak-like projection.

Like the Bee Hawks, referred to presently, the moth is a day flyer, and delights in the suns.h.i.+ne, although it has been several times seen on the wing quite late in the evening, and has also been observed hovering in front of flowers and probing them with its long "tongue" even in the pouring rain. Blossoms of very many plants, both wild and cultivated, seem to receive its attention, but it is perhaps most partial to those of the jasmine where available. In the south of Europe the species is generally abundant throughout the year; but there would seem to be at least two distinct broods, one appearing in June, and the other in October. Possibly there may be an intermediate brood in August, as the period from egg to moth is known to be less than two months. In the British Isles, so far as one can gather from the records, caterpillars have only been found in July and August. Single specimens of the moth have been seen in the earliest months of the year, as for example, January 31, 1898 (Bath), January 3, 1899 (S. Wales), February 2, 1900 (London); it has also been observed several times in December. These facts and others connected with this species in Britain certainly lend colour to the oft-repeated statement that the moth hibernates in this country. The insect is known to enter houses, and to examine holes and cracks in walls, dry banks, etc., in the autumn.

Mr. J. P. Barrett, in a note, written in November or December, 1900, states that six or seven moths came into his house at Margate in October, and that one was still hidden in his bedroom. However, if it be granted that the moth does hibernate here, the instances are so rare and isolated that, unless such specimens are impregnated females, the chances of these reproducing their kind the following year are not great. We have, therefore, to fall back upon immigration as the probable source of the Humming-Bird Hawk-moth in Britain. Except the more northern portion, this species is distributed over the whole of the Palaearctic region, including India, China, Corea, and j.a.pan.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 20.

1. NARROW-BORDERED BEE HAWK-MOTH: _caterpillar_.

2, 2a. BROAD-BORDERED BEE HAWK: _caterpillar and chrysalis_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 21.

1. HUMMING-BIRD HAWK-MOTH.

2. BROAD-BORDERED BEE HAWK-MOTH, _male_; 3 _female_.

4. NARROW-BORDERED BEE HAWK-MOTH, _male_; 5 _female_.

{53} THE BROAD-BORDERED BEE HAWK-MOTH (_Hemaris fuciformis_).

We have but two kinds of Bee Hawk-moths in our islands, and the present species (Plate 21, Figs. 2, 3) is easily recognized by the broad reddish brown borders of the wings and especially those on the front pair, which also have a black bar at the end of the cell. When freshly emerged the wings are not clear and transparent, but covered with greenish-grey scales, which are so loosely attached that they are lost after the moth's first flight.

The egg is bright green, and is laid on the underside of a leaf of honeysuckle. When very young the caterpillar is yellowish white, but when full grown (Plate 20, Fig. 2) it is whitish green on the back, green on the sides, and reddish brown beneath. Along the middle of the back there is a darker, much interrupted, green line and a yellow line on each side of it; the spiracles are reddish, the head is dark green, and the horn reddish brown merging into violet at the base, and brown at the tip. Sometimes there are blotches of reddish brown on the sides. When quite mature and ready to a.s.sume the chrysalis stage the caterpillar changes in colour to purplish brown. At all times it is difficult to detect, as its colour and markings agree so well with the stems, stalks, and leaves of the food plant. If a leaf of honeysuckle having round holes on each side of the midrib be noticed, examination of the underside of that leaf may reveal a young caterpillar of this species. {54}

The common honeysuckle, or woodbine (_Lonicera periclymenum_) is the usual food, but in confinement the caterpillars will eat the foliage of the cultivated kinds of _Lonicera_, and, it is stated, even s...o...b..rry (_Symphoricarpus racemosus_). In rearing it will, however, be safer to supply them with the ordinary food wherever this is to be obtained. July and August are the months in which to look for them. The chrysalis is blackish brown, the skin is rather roughened, and the ring divisions are paler brown. It is protected by a silken coc.o.o.n, the interior of which is smooth, and the exterior coated with earth, etc.

From mid-May to mid-June in average years, the moth is on the wing. The blossoms of the rhododendron are its favourite attraction, and the best time to see it at these flowers is on a nice sunny morning between ten o'clock and midday. The flowers of the bugle (_Ajuga reptans_) growing in meadows, wood-ridings, on railway banks or hedgerows, are hardly less attractive, but these are less easily worked than the higher shrubs. The collector has simply to stand before the latter and await the arrival of the active Bee Hawks. Among other flowers that this moth has been observed to visit are those of its own food plant; ragged robins (_Lychnis flos-cuculi_), ground ivy (_Nepeta glechoma_), and also blue-bell and primrose.

The species is widely distributed and locally common throughout England, but its northern range does not extend apparently beyond Yorks.h.i.+re.

According to Kane it is absent from Ireland; and the reports of odd specimens from Scotland are probably erroneous. Its distribution abroad extends over Europe, except the most northern parts, a large portion of northern and central Asia, and southwards to North Africa.

Moses Harris, it may be mentioned, figured this moth in 1775 as "The Clear-winged Humming-bird Sphinx." {55}

THE NARROW-BORDERED BEE HAWK-MOTH (_Hemaris t.i.tyus_).

This moth (Plate 21, Figs. 4, 5) has long been known as "_bombyliformis_"

and was so mentioned by Haworth in 1802, but for some years past there has been a growing tendency to discard the name altogether, and as most recent authors follow Kirby's identification of this species as the _t.i.tyus_ of Linnaeus, that name is here adopted.

The chief characters separating this moth from the preceding are the narrow blackish borders of the wings and the absence of the black mark at the end of the cell of fore wings. It has been suggested that the female deposits its green oval eggs on the undersides of the leaves of devil's-bit scabious (_Scabiosa succisa_) whilst on the wing, but as she will lay freely in a box it is most probable that she settles on the plants when engaged in egg laying.

The caterpillar (Plate 20, Fig. 1) is green, roughened with white points, from which tiny hairs arise; the green colour varies in tint from whitish to bluish; the lines along each side of the back are yellowish, and often have purplish red spots, or patches, upon them; the spiracles are set in purplish red patches, and the roughened reddish-brown horn is finely pointed. The under side is traversed by a purplish-red stripe. There is some modification in the reddish markings, both as regards number and intensity; these are well developed in the specimen from the New Forest figured on Plate 20. The caterpillars may be found in June and July on the under sides of the lower leaves of the scabious, and as they eat holes in the leaves these marks should afford a clue to their whereabouts.

A few days before changing to a dark brown chrysalis, which is enclosed in a coa.r.s.e and very loosely constructed coc.o.o.n, the caterpillar a.s.sumes a reddish colour.

This moth, which much resembles a large humble bee, is on {56} the wing from about the middle of May to the middle of June. It should be looked for in places where its food plant flourishes, such as rough fields adjoining woods, woodland glades, marshy heaths, fens, bogs, etc. It visits the blossoms of various low growing plants, among which the louseworts (_Pedicularis pal.u.s.tris_ and _P. sylvatica_) and the bugle (_Ajuga reptans_) are perhaps favourites. In some localities the blossoms of the rhododendron and of the bird's-foot trefoil (_Lotus corniculatus_) are very attractive. When seen hovering over the flowers it must be approached cautiously, as, although seemingly fully engrossed in the business in hand, it is quickly alarmed and its movements are rapid.