The Moths of the British Isles Volume Ii Part 53

In damp meadows the moth is out in May and June, but in marshes it does not appear, as a rule, until July, and may be found in early August. The marsh specimens, which are sometimes rather large in size, have been referred to _pal.u.s.tris_, Oberthur, and are treated by Tutt (_Nat. Hist. Brit. Lep._, vol. i.) as a sub-species.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 146.

1, 2. TRANSPARENT BURNET.

3. SCOTCH BURNET.

4, 5. NEW FOREST BURNET.

6-9. FIVE-SPOT BURNET.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 147.

1, 2. NARROW-BORDERED FIVE-SPOT BURNET.

3-5. SIX-SPOT BURNET.

6, 7. SCARCE FORESTER.

8, 9. THE FORESTER.

10, 11. CISTUS FORESTER.

{339} In the British Isles, the species is apparently confined to England and North Wales. In the former country it is locally common in most of the southern counties; still more local in the eastern counties, and northwards to Lancas.h.i.+re and Yorks.h.i.+re. There are records from Armagh and Fermanagh, but Kane appears to doubt the occurrence of the species in Ireland. There is no doubt that the next species has frequently been mistaken for the present one, therefore the actual range of _trifolii_ in the British Isles has probably not been fully ascertained.

NARROW-BORDERED FIVE-SPOT BURNET (_Zygaena lonicerae_).

As will be seen from the two specimens represented by Figs. 1 [male] and 2 [female] on Plate 147, this species bears considerable resemblance to ab.

_orobi_ of _Z. trifolii_. The chief differences are in the rather longer fore wings and the more pointed tips of the hind pair; the borders of the hind wings are often narrower. In a broad way, it may be stated that the general tone of colour in the male of _lonicerae_ is bluer than that of _trifolii_. The union of any two or more spots is rarely seen in this species in Britain, but specimens with all the spots joined together have certainly been noted. A yellow form, ab. _citrina_, Speyer (= _flava_, Oberthur), is known on the continent, and Barrett states that it has occurred in England. In ab. _lutescens_, Hewett, the hind wings are orange.

Ab. _eboraceae_, Prest, is semi-transparent, steel blue; the spots and the hind wings are pink, the border of the hind wings brown, and the fringes of all the wings are whitish.

The caterpillar (Plate 145, Fig. 2) is very similar to that of the last species, but the black marks on the sides are heavier, and the hairs of the body are longer. It feeds on trefoils and clover, and sometimes pa.s.ses two winters before becoming full grown. The coc.o.o.n, which is attached to stems of gra.s.s, etc., is generally placed well up above the ground, so that it is readily seen. {340}

The moth, which is out in late June and in July, occurs in woods and plantations; also said to be found in meadows, and on rough waste ground, as well as in marshes and salterns. The distribution is much as in the last species, but it is plentiful in East Yorks.h.i.+re, and the range extends to c.u.mberland and Northumberland.

SIX-SPOT BURNET (_Zygaena filipendulae_).

This species (Plate 147, Figs. 3-5) is the most generally common of our Burnets. Perhaps the most frequent form of variation in the spots of the fore wings is that in which the outer pair run together, and so form a blotch; but union of the middle pair is not an uncommon occurrence. In ab.

_cytisi_, Hubner, the three pairs of spots are each united, so that the fore wings have three separate blotches, and when these are of a dull scarlet instead of the usual crimson, ab. _ramburi_, Lederer, is represented. Occasionally, all the spots are united, as in ab. _cytisi_, and the blotches thus formed are connected by reddish streaks in various modifications leading up to ab. _conjuncta_, Tutt, which has all the spots merged into a large blotch, extending over the disc of the fore wings. From the normal crimson, the spots and the hind wings vary now and then to orange (_aurantia_, Tutt), or to yellow (ab. _flava_, Robson = _cerinus_, Robson and Gardner); intermediate shades between these two extremes, and the typical coloration, are rather more frequent. I am indebted to Mr. R.

Adkin for the loan of the example of the yellow form shown on Plate 148, Fig. 6. Pink, and orange, forms have been noted from various parts of England, but they seem to occur, or have been found, more especially in Cambridge and the north-east corner of Ess.e.x. Fig. 7, Plate 148, represents an example of ab. _chrysanthemi_, Hubner, and is copied from Oberthur's _Etudes d'Entom._, xx., Plate 8, Fig. 134. A few specimens referable to this form, probably not exceeding half a dozen altogether, have been recorded as taken in England. In typical _filipendulae_ the dark blue border of the hind wings is narrow, but in ab. _hippocrepidis_, Stephens (_tutti_, Rebel), the borders are rather broad. Another character of this form is that the nervule upon which the sixth spot is placed is here of the ground colour, and therefore divides the spot. (Plate 147, Fig. 3.) At Northwood, Middles.e.x, I have found this form in May and June, and also in the Weybridge district, Surrey, in late July; and, it may be added, there was a flouris.h.i.+ng colony of _Z. trifolii_ hard by in each locality. For this reason, plus the fact that _trifolii_ [male] is known to pair with _filipendulae_ [female], I hold the opinion that _hippocrepidis_ is a hybrid. It may be noted here that hybrids have been raised from the crossing of _filipendulae_ and _lonicerae_; the s.e.xes of _lonicerae_ and _trifolii_ pair somewhat readily, and the hybrid offspring of such pairings are fertile.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 148.

1. NEW FOREST BURNET, AB. _CONFUSA_.

2, 3, 4, 5. FIVE-SPOT BURNET, VARS.

6, 7. SIX-SPOT BURNET, VARS.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 149.

1. FESTOON MOTH: _caterpillars and coc.o.o.ns_.

2. TRIANGLE MOTH: _caterpillars_.

{341} It seems, then, that _trifolii_, _lonicerae_, and _filipendulae_ have not, so far, lost the power of fertile cross-pairing. Wherever colonies of two of the kind exist within visiting distance of each other, there, it appears, we may reasonably expect to find hybrids.

From a number of coc.o.o.ns collected in a Yorks.h.i.+re locality for _lonicerae_, I reared, in 1907, a good many examples of that species, and also about a dozen six-spot specimens, which agree in colour with _filipendulae_, but they have the vein-interrupted sixth spot and broad border to hind wings, as in _hippocrepidis_.

The caterpillar (Plate 145, Fig. 4) is greenish, with black markings and some yellow spots, the latter chiefly on the hind edges of the rings. It feeds in the autumn and after hibernation, on trefoils, clover, bird's-foot (_Ornithopus_), and kidney-vetch (_Anthyllis_), completing growth in the spring.

The moth flies on sunny days in July and August, on chalk downs, etc., inland, and on cliffs and sand hills on the coast, also in marshes; but, as previously stated, it also occurs locally in meadows in May and June. {342}

SCARCE FORESTER (_Ino_ (_Rhagades_) _globulariae_).

Of the three species occurring in Britain this is slightly the larger, at least in the male. The fore wings are green, sometimes with a slightly golden sheen; fringes, greyish. The male is best distinguished from _statices_ by its more slender body, and by the pectinated and rather pointed antennae. The female is a good deal smaller than the male; the antennae are simple, and somewhat thread-like, compared with those of the females of _statices_ and _geryon_. (Plate 147, Figs. 6 [male], 7 [female].)

The caterpillar is green, with the raised spots inclining to bluish; two yellowish-white lines along the back, and a dark green stripe along the sides; head and plate on first ring of the body, black. It lives on knapweeds (_Centaurea nigra_ and _C. scabiosa_), feeding on the leaves much in the same manner as the caterpillar of the next two species.

The moth is out in June and July; it is partial to blossoms of salad burnet (_Poterium sanguisorba_), and only flies in the suns.h.i.+ne. The late Mr. J.

Jenner Weir, who found the species commonly on the downs near Lewes, Suss.e.x, was the first entomologist to record it as British. The best known localities in Suss.e.x are Hollingbury Vale and Cliffe Hill, but it also occurs at the Devil's d.y.k.e near Brighton. In Kent it is found on the downs behind Folkestone and Shorncliffe Camp.

THE FORESTER (_Ino_ (_Adscita_) _statices_).

In its most frequent form in Britain, this species is bronzy green (ab.

_viridis_, Tutt); the typical bluish green type is much less frequent. The female is smaller than the male, but the difference in size is hardly ever so marked as in the s.e.xes of _globulariae_. The antennae of the male are pectinated, but the tips are thickened. (Plate 147, Figs. 8 [male], 9 [female].) {343}

The caterpillar (Plate 145, Fig. 5) is whitish, inclining to green, yellow, or pinkish, on the back, and the sides are pinkish brown; the hairy warts are brown or pinkish brown, and the small head is glossy black. It feeds on sorrel (_Rumex acetosa_), and it attains full growth, after hibernation, about the end of April. On leaving the egg-sh.e.l.l in the summer, the young caterpillar bores into a leaf, and eats the tissue between the upper and lower skins; later on it attacks the foliage from the underside, but leaves the upper skin intact; or the process may be reversed, and the under skin left.

The moth is on the wing in June, sometimes late May. It occurs, locally, in meadows, frequently damp ones, where there is plenty of ragged-robin (_Lychnis flos-cuculi_), the blossoms of which plant it seems to prefer to all others.

Widely distributed over England, but in Wales only recorded from Capel Curig and Barmouth, in the north of that country (1900). In Scotland its range extends to Moray; and in Ireland it is found in counties Wicklow, Cork, Clare, Westmeath, Monaghan, Sligo, and Galway.

CISTUS FORESTER (_Ino_ (_Adscita_) _geryon_).

This species is much smaller than the last; the fore wings, the outer margins of which are somewhat rounded, are bronze green, but, in the male, rather dull in tint, sometimes tinged with golden towards the base. The antennae are more stumpy than those of _statices_, but in other respects they are similar in appearance. The female is not much smaller than the male. (Plate 147, Figs. 10 [male], 11 [female].)

The caterpillar is yellowish white, with bristle-bearing warts of pretty much the same colour; three lines on the back, the central one whitish, edged on each side with purplish, the others waved and of a claret colour; a reddish-brown stripe low down {344} along the sides; head and plate on first ring of the body black, the latter edged in front with yellowish. It feeds on rock rose (_Helianthemum chamaecistus_). At first it attacks the leaf from the upper side, and partly burrows therein; when older it clears away patches from the under surface, leaving the upper skin of the leaf more or less transparent; as it approaches full growth it likes to take its meals in the suns.h.i.+ne, and then eats the top skin as well as other parts of the leaf, and also tender shoots: July to May. The moth is out in June and July, as a rule, but is sometimes observed in May. Its haunts are on warm slopes of chalk downs and limestone hills, where it flies in the suns.h.i.+ne.

This species was first noted as British in March, 1860, when specimens from Worcesters.h.i.+re were recorded as _Procris tenuicornis_. It seems, however, to have been considered doubtfully distinct from _statices_ until 1863, when the caterpillar was found, and the occurrence of the species in several other English counties recorded. At the present time _I. geryon_ is known to inhabit Suss.e.x (Brighton and Lewes districts), Kent (Canterbury and Shorncliffe), Bucks (Aylesbury and Tring), Oxfords.h.i.+re (Chinor), Gloucesters.h.i.+re (Cotswolds), Worcesters.h.i.+re (Malvern Hills), Derbys.h.i.+re and North Staffords.h.i.+re (Bakewell and Dovedale), Yorks.h.i.+re (Richmond, Barnsley, Sheffield, etc.), and Durham (banks on the coast). In Wales, it is sometimes common on Great Orme's Head, Carnarvons.h.i.+re.

COCHLIDIDae.

This family of moths mainly comprises tropical species, and is but poorly represented in the Palaearctic Region. Only two species are European, and both occur in Britain.

As _Cochlidion_, Hubner, supersedes _Limacodes_, Latrielle, the name of the family so long known as Limacodidae, will have to {345} be changed to that here adopted. Meyrick, who sinks _Limacodes_ in favour of _Apoda_, Haworth, uses Heterogeneidae as the family name.

THE FESTOON (_Cochlidion_ (_Heterogenea_) _limacodes_).

The fore wings of the male are orange brown, more or less smudged or clouded with blackish; two oblique black lines, the first inclined inwards, and the second outwards and apparently terminating on the outer margin just above the inner angle, but there is a slender dusky curve from this point enclosing a clear, orange-brown spot. Hind wings blackish, except on the inner margin, which is broadly orange brown. Female, ochreous brown, with lines on the fore wings as in the male; hind wings suffused with dark grey or blackish, except on the inner area; generally rather larger than the male. (Plate 153, Figs. 1 [male], 2 [female].) Not infrequently, the fore wings of the male are so much clouded with blackish that the cross lines are obscured, and the spot on the inner margin alone remains clear.

The caterpillar (Plate 149, Fig. 1, from a coloured drawing by Mr. A. Sich) is green, with two reddish-edged yellow lines on the back; between these lines are yellowish spots; a yellow line along the sides extends along the front edge of the second ring, where it is marked with red. It feeds on oak, and may be beaten from the boughs in the autumn. The brownish coc.o.o.n is depicted on Plate 149; Fig. 1a shows the hinged lid which covered the opening through which the chrysalis protruded previous to the moth's escape; Fig. 1b represents one from which the moth has not emerged, and in nature this would be attached to a leaf and covered with a delicate film of silk. The moth is out in June and July, and both s.e.xes may be beaten from the branches of trees, or seen flying around their tops in the suns.h.i.+ne.

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