The Moths of the British Isles Volume Ii Part 24

At one time considered to be a purely northern species: the earliest known British specimens, four in number, having been captured at Petty Pool, Delamere, Ches.h.i.+re, on October 31, 1848. It is now known, however, to have a wide distribution in the south of England. Northwards, its range extends throughout England and Scotland up to Moray. It is found in South Wales; also in Galway, Monaghan, and Connemara, in Ireland.

THE TISSUE (_Triphosa dubitata_).

The fore wings of this glossy species (Plate 60, Figs. 1, 2) are pale brown, tinged more or less strongly with rosy or purplish; there are numerous darker and paler cross lines, the most distinct and constant being the blackish basal, and the two forming the edges of the central band; the latter are marked with black; the submarginal line is whitish, wavy, and sometimes broken up into dots. The species varies considerably in tint, some specimens inclining to pale greyish brown, others to smoky brown. Hind wings, whitish grey, with several darker grey cross lines; in dark specimens these wings are smoky grey. Ab. _cinereata_, Stephens, is a small pale greyish form, almost without rosy tinge and with fewer cross lines.

The caterpillar (Plate 62, Fig. 1) is yellowish green with {159} darker green stripes and lines. In another form there are four pale yellowish lines along the back and a yellow stripe low down along the sides. It feeds on buckthorn (_Rhamnus_), the leaves of which it fastens together with silk, and so forms a retreat. It will also eat sloe and bird-cherry (_Prunus padus_).

The moth is out in August and through the autumn, when it sometimes visits the flowers of ivy, ragwort, etc.; after hibernation it is again seen, perhaps even more frequently, in April and May, and is then occasionally found at sallow catkins. The species seems to have been noted from nearly all the English counties, but becomes rare from Yorks.h.i.+re northwards. In Wales, and in Ireland, it is apparently widely distributed, but in Scotland it seems confined to southern localities, and is only rarely met with.

Abroad, the distribution spreads to Amurland, China, and j.a.pan.

THE SCARCE TISSUE (_Eucosmia_ (_Calocalpe_) _certata_).

This species is very similar to the last, but the wings are not glossy, only reddish on the outer margin, and the black marked lines edging the central band of the fore wings are less irregular, the inner ones usually being much straighter. On the under side of the hind wings of the male is a fold enclosing hairs; this is on the inner margin, just above the a.n.a.l angle. (Plate 60, Fig. 3 [female].)

The thickset caterpillar (Plate 62, Fig. 3, after Hofmann) is greyish inclining to greenish; four white lines along the back, the central pair enclosing a dark line, the others are bordered below with dark greyish; the black spiracles are set in yellowish blotches, and the plates on first and last rings are brown; head, reddish-brown, glossy (adapted from Fenn). It feeds on the barberry (_Berberis vulgaris_) and the holly-leaved barberry (_B. aquifolium_) grown in gardens, in June and July. The moth {160} is out in May and June, but in favourable seasons has appeared in late April. When on the wing at night it is freely attracted by light, but otherwise not often noticed. The species has occurred in many of the English counties from Devon to Durham, but it seems to be only common in the eastern counties, and most frequent perhaps in Suffolk. It has been recorded from South Wales, but is seemingly absent from Ireland.

The range abroad extends to Amurland.

THE SCALLOP Sh.e.l.l (_Eucosmia undulata_).

Wings pale greyish, sometimes ochreous tinted, and crossed by numerous dark-grey wavy lines inclining to blackish on the front margin of the fore wings; the waves of the central pair of lines on the fore wings often meet and so form a series of rings; sometimes the s.p.a.ce between the eighth and twelfth lines is of a dusky hue, and occasionally it is distinctly darker and band-like; the outer margin of all the wings is brownish and traversed by a wavy white line. The male has tufts of blackish hair in a fold on the inner margin of the hind wing, this is noticeable on the upper side, but is best seen from the under side. (Plate 60, Figs. 4 [male], 5 [female].)

The somewhat dumpy caterpillar is reddish-brown with four yellowish lines along the back; a greyish stripe along the sides, and a creamy stripe along the black spiracles; head, pale brown and glossy. It feeds on sallow, aspen, and bilberry, and may be found from August throughout the autumn in spun-together leaves at the tips of the shoots. (Plate 62, Fig. 2.)

The moth is out in June and July, and occurs in woods where there is a good growth of bilberry, or in marshy spots where sallow bushes abound.

In England the species is widely distributed over the southern and eastern counties; its range extends through the Midlands to Ches.h.i.+re, Lancs., and Westmorland, rarely in Lincoln and Yorks., and once recorded in Durham; it occurs in Wales and in Scotland, but only in the more southern part of each country. It is not plentiful in Ireland, but widely distributed. The range abroad includes Amurland.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 60.

1, 2. THE TISSUE.

3. SCARCE TISSUE.

4, 5. THE SCALLOP Sh.e.l.l.

6. THE BROWN SCALLOP.

7, 8. THE DARK UMBER.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 61.

1. NETTED CARPET.

2. SPECKLED YELLOW, VAR.

3. DOTTED BORDER WAVE (AB. _CIRCELLATA_).

4. GARDEN CARPET (AB. _COSTOVATA_).

5, 6. YELLOW Sh.e.l.l, ABERRANT FORMS.

7. TAWNY-BARRED ANGLE (AB. _NIGROFULVATA_).

8, 9. BROKEN-BARRED CARPET, SCOTTISH FORM.

{161}

THE BROWN SCALLOP (_Scotosia vetulata_).

The male is always smaller than the female, and is noticeable for its long body with tuft of hairs at the extremity. The wings in both s.e.xes are dingy brown, or greyish brown, and the usual lines on fore wings are blackish, the s.p.a.ce between first and second often dusky. (Plate 60, Fig. 6.)

The caterpillar is short and stout, and in form very like that of the winter moth; the back and a central dorsal stripe are black, the latter bordered with white, the sides are yellow; the spiracular line is black, broken, and unconnected; the spiracles are black; the head is black, and the edge of the first ring of the body is yellow. (Crewe.) It feeds, in May and June, on purging buckthorn (_Rhamnus catharticus_), and is to be found between two or more leaves, which it spins together as a hiding place.

In June and July the moth may sometimes be obtained by beating bushes of buckthorn, or the herbage below and around; this plan works best when operated just before dusk. As a British insect it is only found in England, and is most frequent in the southern and eastern counties, but widely distributed in the west to Worcester, and has been found in Lancas.h.i.+re, Westmorland, and Yorks. In the last-named county, caterpillars were obtained freely at Askham Bogs in 1900.

When Stephens wrote of this insect in 1831 he noted its occurrence "in a lane near Fulham." Even so recently as 1906 I obtained specimens on the Putney side of Wimbledon Common.

The range abroad extends to Eastern Siberia. {162}

THE DARK UMBER (_Scotosia rhamnata_).

The blackish oblique band on the fore wings of this ochreous brown species (Plate 60, Fig. 7 [male], 8 [female]) is sometimes indicated only by the blackish lines, the s.p.a.ce between them being hardly darker than the general colour. Sometimes all the wings are suffused with blackish brown, and in such specimens the only distinct marking is the whitish submarginal line.

The caterpillar is green, with three lines along the back, the central one dark green, and the others yellow; the hind wings are marked with purple, and a stripe of the same colour runs along under the spiracles. In another form the general colour is greyish with a reddish-brown stripe along the back, and series of spots of the same colour along the sides. It may be found in May and June, concealed between leaves that it has fastened together to form a retreat.

The moth flies in late June and in July, and may be disturbed in the daytime from buckthorn bushes. It is widely distributed, and often common in the South of England, but is rare in the north; and has also been recorded from South Wales.

NOTE.--This species has been referred to _transversata_, Hufnagel, and as this is an earlier name it may have to be adopted. According to Prout, both this and the preceding species should be placed in the genus _Philereme_, Hubner.

SMALL PHOENIX (_Eustroma silaceata_).

In its typical form (Plate 63, Fig. 3) the blackish band of the fore wings is entire, but in ab. _insulata_, Haworth (Fig. 4), this band is interrupted by two whitish lines along the median veins, and so divided into three or four portions, the smaller section placed between the lines; occasionally, the dividing lines a.s.sume stripe-like proportions, and the main portions are consequently smaller in size and further from each other, but one "island" still remains. In another form, the lower outer corner is distinctly separate from the costal portion; thus the band is broken into four parts.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 62.

1. THE TISSUE: _caterpillar_.

2. SCALLOP Sh.e.l.l: _caterpillar_.

3. SCARCE TISSUE: _caterpillar_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 63.

1, 2. THE PHOENIX.

3, 4. SMALL PHOENIX.

5-7. THE CHEVRON.

8-10. NORTHERN SPINACH.

{163} The long caterpillar is green, with a reddish-brown stripe along the back; this is broken up into spots, except on the first three rings; there are some reddish-brown spots on the sides. It feeds on various kinds of willow herb (_Epilobium_), and enchanter's nightshade (_Circaea lutetiana_) in July, and sometimes in August and September.

The moth should be looked for in beech and other woods amongst the food plants, from which, and the surrounding herbage, it is readily evicted. It flies at twilight, and later on, when it has been known to visit the sugar patch; it is also attracted by light. It is out in May and June, and specimens of a second generation sometimes occur in the South. The species occurs locally throughout England, probably Wales, and in Scotland up to Ross. In Ireland, it is widely distributed and locally common in the North, but apparently not noted in the South.

NETTED CARPET (_Lygris reticulata_).

The white veins and white lines pa.s.sing through the blackish blotches at the base and on the front margin of the fore wings, give these wings a curious netted appearance; the hind wings are smoky grey, with two white lines which appear to be continuations of the white second line and sub-marginal of the fore wings. (Plate 61, Fig. 1.)