The Moths of the British Isles Volume Ii Part 40

Localities for the species are the fens of Cambridge and Norfolk, the boggy parts of the New Forest, Hants; Dorset (Bloxworth and Hyde, etc.); Ches.h.i.+re (Delamere Forest); Yorks.h.i.+re (bogs near York, and Thorne Waste).

The range abroad extends to j.a.pan.

DARK SPINACH (_Pelurga comitata_).

The darker banded, pale ochreous species shown on Plate 102, Figs. 3 [male], 4 [female], varies in the colour of the band to brownish; the central area of this band is almost always pale ochreous or whitish, to a greater or lesser extent.

Caterpillar, stout and roughened; ochreous inclining to reddish, and tinged above with greenish; a series of V-shaped marks along the back, yellow oblique darker on the sides, and a greyish edged pale wavy line low down along the sides. {255} The figures 2, 2a, on Plate 94 are from coloured drawings by Mr. A. Sich.

It feeds in the autumn on the flowers and seeds of various kinds of goosefoot (_Chenopodium_), also on Orache (_Atriplex_). The moth is out in July and August, and may be found among its food plants and other low herbage growing in waste places, more particularly those on sandy coasts.

Around the borders of market gardens, especially those in the south of London, and in Kent and Surrey, it is often very common. The species probably occurs more or less freely in suitable places almost throughout the British Isles.

Its range abroad extends to East Siberia.

SLENDER-STRIPED RUFOUS (_Phibalapteryx lapidata_).

The rather pointed fore wings are pale brownish, and are crossed by several fine wavy and rather darker lines, and three more distinct, slightly curved lines, one of which is at the base and two are on the central area. The outer margin of the hind wings, which are pale brown, more or less shaded with dusky, is irregular. (Plate 102, Fig. 6.)

Caterpillar, whitish-yellow above, inclining to pale buff below; lines of grey freckles along the back and sides, the lower one broader and darker; head, grey, freckled with darker. According to h.e.l.lins, who reared it from the egg, it feeds in May and June, on traveller's joy (_Clematis vitalba_).

The natural food is doubtful, but is said to be gra.s.s, whilst Kirby states that in the South of France the caterpillar eats evergreen oak.

The moth is out in September and early October, and is found in Scotland on the hills, in rough gra.s.sy and rush-covered spots, at elevations ranging from 300 to 800 feet. In Ireland, it is not uncommon in Antrim, Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Galway, {256} and Limerick. Barrett states that a specimen has been taken at Shap Fell in Westmorland.

Abroad, the range extends to East Siberia.

MANY-LINED MOTH (_Phibalapteryx polygrammata_).

The female example of this species, represented on Plate 102, Fig. 5, is from Germany; the male is somewhat paler and the central markings less distinct. This form is var. _conjunctaria_, Lederer, and most of the specimens formerly obtained in the Cambridges.h.i.+re fens, chiefly Burwell and Wicken, were referable to it. The species has not been seen in its old fenland haunts for very many years, and it is probably now extinct in Britain. Specimens have been in the past (and still continue to be) recorded from other British localities, but these on investigation are found to be cases of mistaken ident.i.ty. _C. vittata_ = _lignata_ bears a strong likeness to _P. polygrammata_, and is often confused with it, but in the latter the outer band does not run to the tips of the fore wings, as it does in the former species.

SMALL WAVED UMBER (_Phibalapteryx_ (_Coenocalpe_) _vitalbata_).

At first sight this moth (Plate 102, Fig. 7) might be mistaken for a small specimen of the Waved Umber (_Hemerophila abruptaria_), but it will be noted that the dark stripe on the fore wings starts from the middle of the inner margin, and runs to just below the tips of the wings; the outer margin of the hind wings is not wavy, and the antennae of the male are not pectinated.

The caterpillar, which feeds on traveller's joy (_Clematis vitalba_), in June-July, and in September-October, is greyish {257} brown, with three blackish lines along the back, the central one broader than the other two, especially on the middle of each ring, where it swells out into a black spot.

In May and June, and again in August, the moth may be disturbed from the food plant growing in ma.s.ses in hedgerows, etc. It occurs in most of the southern counties of England, westward to Herefords.h.i.+re and South Wales, and eastward to Suffolk. Forsythe states that it is local in the Lancaster district.

The range abroad extends to Amurland and j.a.pan.

THE FERN (_Phibalapteryx_ (_Coenocalpe_) _tersata_).

The general colour of this species (Plate 102, Fig. 8) is pale brown, with a tendency to reddish in some specimens, and to greyish in others.

Caterpillar, pale brownish inclining to ochreous; on each side of an irregular blackish line along the centre of the back is a pale yellowish line, and there are white spots on the back of the middle rings. It feeds on _Clematis_, in August and September. The moth is out in June and July, and will be found in similar localities to those mentioned for the previous species, and, except that it has not been recorded from Lancaster, its range in England is much about the same.

The distribution abroad extends to j.a.pan.

OBLIQUE CARPET (_Coenocalpe vittata_).

This species, also known as _lignata_, Hubner, is usually pale brown in ground colour, tinged with ochreous or pinkish; the darker oblique stripes vary in width and in intensity. (Plate 102, Figs. 9 [male], gen. 1; 10 [male], gen. 2.)

The caterpillar is of a yellow-green colour, inclining to {258} ochreous brown on the upper portions of the middle rings; a darker irregular line along the back, and a whitish line on each side, the latter edged above and below with a fine black line; below the spiracles is a pale pinkish brown stripe. Varies in the tint of ground colour and in the markings. It feeds, after hibernation, on bedstraw (_Galium pal.u.s.tre_, _G. saxatile_, etc.), and caterpillars from eggs laid in June may be reared on clematis, wild or cultivated.

The moth is out in May and June, sometimes later, and a second generation appears in August and September; the individuals of the later brood are often smaller than those of the first brood. Its haunts are fens, marshes, and water-meads, but in Middles.e.x I have taken a specimen or two flying along a weedy ditch. Widely distributed throughout the British Isles, but not noted in Scotland north of Moray.

THE GEM (_Percnoptilota fluviata_).

Also known in the vulgar tongue as "The Narrow-barred Carpet." As will be seen on reference to Plate 102, the male (Fig. 12) is pale brown with a dark central band; and the female (Fig. 11) is purplish brown, the central band rather blackish, and on it is the discal mark, a black centred white spot. The specimens figured are rather small.

The following aberrations have been named--ab. _marginata_, Mathew, with the fringes of all the wings conspicuously pinky-grey; ab. _olivacea_, Mathew, a form of the female with olive brown fore wings; ab. _obsoleta_, Mathew, a form of the male with the dark central band nearly or quite absent.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 102.

1, 2. DENTATED PUG.

3, 4. DARK SPINACH.

5. MANY-LINED.

6. SLENDER-STRIPED RUFOUS.

7. SMALL WAVED UMBER.

8. THE FERN.

9, 10. OBLIQUE CARPET.

11, 12. THE GEM.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 103.

1-5. MAGPIE MOTH.

6-8. CLOUDED MAGPIE.

{259} The caterpillar is greyish, sometimes tinged with pink, and sometimes with green; three dusky lines on the head and first three rings of the body, a series of blackish outlined, whitish marks on the middle rings, and blackish marks on the other rings, which are pale in colour; a blackish line above the black-edged spiracles is broken up into dashes on the middle rings. Several other forms of the caterpillar, which is a variable one, have been described by h.e.l.lins. The food comprises groundsel, knotgra.s.s, chrysanthemum, and various other plants. There are several generations during the year, and in hot weather the caterpillars feed up rapidly, so quickly indeed that in about a month the whole round of changes from egg to moth is effected. The species is migratory in habit, and there is little doubt that the specimens taken in this country in late spring or early summer are immigrants; those examples obtained later in the year are probably the descendants of such aliens. It is more frequently noted from southern England, chiefly from the seaboard counties, but it has been recorded from Lancas.h.i.+re and Yorks.h.i.+re; also from Wales, and from several parts of Ireland: April to November.

BOARMIINae.

CLOUDED MAGPIE (_Abraxas sylvata_).

A more or less typical example of each s.e.x of this variable species will be found on Plate 103. Fig. 7 represents a male, and Fig. 8 a female; the slightly marked specimen (Fig. 6) somewhat approaches the continental species _A. pantaria_, L., in appearance, and it is probable that such individuals have done duty for the species just named in some of the older collections of British lepidoptera. On Plate 104 are shown the leaden tinted form (Fig. 6), sometimes not infrequent in certain Yorks.h.i.+re localities; a specimen with smoky fore wings (Fig. 7), taken with a few other examples of the same form in a wood in Buckinghams.h.i.+re, in 1907, when also the strongly banded form (Fig. 8) was secured by Mr. A. J. Scollick.

Between these {260} extremes and the more typical forms all kinds of intergrades occur, but it is not possible here to discuss these in detail.

The pale greenish yellow eggs and two caterpillars are figured on Plate 101, Figs. 2, 2a. The latter are whitish, inclining to yellowish on the back, and lined with black; stripe below the black spiracles, yellow; head, black and glossy. The food is wych-elm (_Ulmus montana_), but beech and hazel are said to be eaten at times: August to October. The moth is found in May and June, sitting about on the leaves of dog's mercury, and other vegetation in its woodland haunts. Although it sometimes occurs sparingly in the southern seaboard counties, it is far more frequent in the west, ranging from North Devon to c.u.mberland, and including Wales. It is common in Bucks., and northwards to Northumberland, and extends into South Scotland. In Ireland, not uncommon at Killarney, and reported from a few other localities.

THE MAGPIE (_Abraxas grossulariata_).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 6.

MAGPIE MOTH, DRYING WINGS.

(Photo by H. Main.)]

Except that the specimen represented by Fig. 2 has traces of a yellow band on the hind wings, Figs. 1-3 on Plate 103 show this highly variable species in its typical and most frequent form. Figs. 4 and 5 depict examples of the ordinary darker forms leading up to ab. _hazeleighensis_, Raynor, in which the whole of the fore wing area between the orange bands is blackish, except two tiny white specks near the front margin. Not infrequently the black spots on the outer margin of the fore wings exhibit a tendency to spread inwards, as in Figs. 2 and 5, and very occasionally they unite with the series of spots outside the orange band, as in Plate 104, Fig. 1, which represents a specimen (kindly lent by Mr. R. Adkin) with blackish tinged hind wings. Sometimes the ground colour of all the wings is yellowish (ab.