The Moths of the British Isles Volume I Part 4

2, 2a. SPURGE HAWK-MOTH.

_Caterpillars and chrysalids._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 15.

1. SPURGE HAWK-MOTH.

2. BEDSTRAW HAWK-MOTH.

3. STRIPED HAWK-MOTH.

{37} The moth usually emerges in June or July of the year following pupation, but it may come out the same year; on the other hand, it has been known to remain in the chrysalis for two winters. Dr. Chapman has noted the emergence of the moth eighteen days after the pupa was formed.

Little, if anything, appears to have been known of this species as an inhabitant of Britain until 1806, when Mr. Raddon, who was staying at Instow, in N. Devon, had a caterpillar brought to him by a fisherman. From that time, and up to 1814, a large number of the caterpillars were obtained from _Euphorbia paralias_ growing on Braunton Burrows, a long stretch of sandhills on the north Devonshire coast, accessible from Barnstaple or Ilfracombe, which, when I visited the locality some twenty-five years ago, was greatly favoured by rabbits. One would suppose that the Spurge Hawk caterpillars must have been pretty abundant at the time Raddon made his observations, as he states in a note on the subject published in the Entomological Magazine for 1835, that on leaving the ground one evening at dusk he hastily cut an armful of spurge, which he took home and put in water. Next morning he "found the food covered with not less than a hundred minute larvae about a day or two old." This must have happened prior to 1814, because the species seems to have entirely disappeared about that year. The Rev. E. N. Bloomfield, in his catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Suffolk, mentions a moth bred from a larva found near Landguard Fort about 1865. He adds that the food plant was then abundant there. At a meeting of the Entomological Society of London held in October, 1876, a letter was read from Mr. Higgins concerning the reported finding of the caterpillars of this species in a locality near Harwich in 1873. It was stated that the spurge (_Euphorbia paralias_), had not only been {38} seen in the particular spot, but in other parts of the same district also.

In the _Entomologist_ for 1893 there is a very circ.u.mstantial account of the finding of eighteen or nineteen Spurge Hawk caterpillars on the Cornish coast in the autumn of 1889. From these, eight moths resulted in May-July, 1890, and one in June, 1891.

Although the occurrence of the moth in Britain has been more frequently recorded, probably in error for the Bedstraw Hawk, there are at least two that are undoubtedly authentic. One of these refers to a specimen taken in a private garden near Southampton (_Entom._, 1872), and the other was captured by the late Mr. C. G. Barrett as it flew at early dusk in a garden at King's Lynn, Norfolk, in September, 1887. Some idea of the scarcity of _bona fide_ English specimens may be gained from the fact that about thirteen years ago, two of Raddon's bred specimens were sold by auction at Stevens, when six guineas was given for one, and ten shillings more for the other.

Its distribution abroad extends through Central and Southern Europe into Asia Minor, and it is represented by local races in other parts of Asia.

THE BEDSTRAW HAWK (_Deilephila_ (_Celerio_) _galii_).

On Plate 15, Fig. 2, will be found a portrait of this moth, which the ancient fathers of British entomology dubbed the "Spotted Elephant"--at least, Harris, in 1778, figured its caterpillar under this name. Later it was called the "Galium Hawk-moth." The olive-brown fore wings have a tapered, creamy-white stripe running obliquely from the inner margin near the base to the tip of the wing; the lower edge of this stripe is almost straight, but the upper edge is irregular; the outer margin of the wings is greyish. Hind wings creamy {39} white, the basal area and a band before the outer margin black; the s.p.a.ce enclosed is blotched, and sometimes tinged with pinkish red; but the extreme inner portion is almost pure white. Head and thorax are olive-brown, edged with white; the abdomen is olive-brown, with a whitish line along the middle of the back, and ornamented with black and white on the sides.

The full-grown caterpillar varies in colour from greenish olive to pale olive-brown, reddish brown, or sometimes blackish; the spots on the back are yellowish, edged with black, but occasionally these are absent. It feeds in August and September, on the bedstraws (_Galium verum_, _G.

mollugo_, etc.), preferring the yellow-flowered kind that flourishes on sandhills by the sea (_G. verum_, var. _maritimum_). It can be reared very well on willow herb (_Epilobium_) and on fuchsia.

When ready for the change it burrows underground, and, where the soil is sandy and light, it works down pretty deeply before making the frail cell, in which it turns to a reddish-brown chrysalis with blackish markings, somewhat similar to those of the next species; the a.n.a.l spike is blackish, rather flattened, terminating in a sharp point (Plate 14, Figs. 1, 1a).

Haworth in 1812 mentioned caterpillars from Devonshire, and although single specimens of the moth seem to have been taken here and there in various years between that date and 1854, in only one year during that period was it reported from several parts of the country. This was in 1834, when four moths were captured in August, and eight or nine others seen at Yarmouth; caterpillars were also found on the bedstraw growing on the Denes. Odd examples of the moth were observed that year in Lincolnshire, Somersetshire, and in the Isle of Wight. In 1855-56, caterpillars were obtained in August on the sandhills at Deal, and, in September, at Devonport in the first-named year. A moth was taken in May, 1857, and, later in that year, specimens were captured at Deal, {40} Brighton, and Taunton. Three moths were recorded in 1858; and in 1859 caterpillars were plentiful on the south-east coast, common on the Cheshire coast, also reported from Devon, Cambs., London, and Darlington; over a score were found within a short distance of Perth. A good many moths were also taken.

The species was especially abundant in 1870, in which year caterpillars were collected in hundreds. It seems to have been widely distributed throughout England, and was again found in Perthshire. Perhaps not more than three specimens were taken between 1872 and 1888, but in the rainy and cold summer of the latter year, the moths seem to have invaded the country in great force, and were reported from many parts of England, and also from Aberdeen in Scotland, and from Howth in Ireland. Caterpillars, too, were plentiful on the coast sandhills of Kent, Cheshire, and Lancashire, and also in the Eastern Counties.

In March, 1889, Mr. Elisha had moths emerge from chrysalids of the previous year. These had been placed in a temperature ranging from 60 to 70 degrees, and the moths came out in from fourteen to sixteen days after commencing the forcing process. Some half a dozen chrysalids that I had in 1888, from Lancashire caterpillars, were allowed to remain in the earth, which was contained in a large-sized flower-pot; the moths emerged in May and June, 1889, all but one being perfect specimens.

In 1894 Mr. Harwood obtained five caterpillars on the Ess.e.x coast, and in 1897 the Rev. A. Miles Moss found a few, and observed traces of others, on the Lancashire coast, but, apart from these records, very few moths or caterpillars of this species appear to have been noted in the country since 1888, and we still await the advent of another _Galii_ year. So far the periods of scarcity between the seasons of plenty have been twenty-five, eleven, and nineteen years.

The range of this insect extends through Europe and Asia to {41} Siberia and Amurland. It is represented in North America by the Galium Sphinx (_Celerio intermedia_, Kirby = _chamaenerii_, Harris), which so greatly resembles it that only an expert could readily distinguish one from the other.

THE STRIPED HAWK (_Phryxus_ (_Deilephila_) _livornica_).

Owing to some confusion between this moth (Plate 15, Fig. 3) and the North American Striped Morning Sphinx (_D. lineata_), which also seems to have had a place in the cabinets of the earlier British entomologists, the localities given by authors previous to 1828 are doubtful. Haworth, however, in 1803, mentions Cornwall, and Stephens, in his remarks on this species, refers to a specimen from Norfolk; one taken off the mast of the Ramsgate steam vessel at Billingsgate, in June, 1824; and three specimens, one of which he figured, captured near Kingsbridge, Devonshire.

In 1846 thirteen of these moths were recorded from various parts of England and Ireland, and probably many others were in these islands that year.

Between May 12 and 26, 1860, twenty specimens were taken in the south of England, and more than half of them in Devonshire. In 1862 a specimen occurred at Worthing on April 16, and one at Herne Hill on April 29; others were taken between May 2 and May 18 on the south and south-west coasts, and at Colchester. Over a score of specimens were recorded in 1868, chiefly in August, and from localities ranging from Cornwall to Yorkshire. The year 1870 was a good one for the species, and moths were reported from England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. Fully fifty specimens were obtained, mostly in May, and caterpillars were also found. In 1904 the moth occurred in May, at several places in the south and south-west of England, also in Gloucestershire, Wales, and at Carlisle; in September of this year a specimen was taken on the pier at Dover, and another on a small {42} headland at Barry, in Glamorgan. Some of the early captured females deposited eggs; caterpillars resulting therefrom were fed on vine, and at least one moth was reared in September.

A good many specimens visited the south of England, more particularly South Devon, in June, 1906, but the species was reported as occurring in large numbers on rhododendron blossom near Cork in Ireland from June 9 to 13 or 14. In August and September the moth was reported from Kent, Suss.e.x, Hants, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, and South Wales; such specimens probably being the offspring of the early immigrants. During the past forty years the barren seasons for the Striped Hawk appear to have been only ten. The dates of its occurrence have been somewhat erratic. One was captured in 1887 in the month of February, one on March 27 in 1903, but the moth has been observed in each month from May to September inclusive, although May, June, and August would seem to have been the more favoured. The caterpillar has not been seen often in England. Mr. Farn recorded six or seven from Ryde in July, 1870; they were feeding on vine and centaury in a garden. One spun up in the leaves at the bottom of the box on July 27, but the web was so fragile that the caterpillar fell out, and changed to the chrysalis state on the 30th. The moth emerged on August 26. In the same year several caterpillars occurred in Devon and Cornwall, and one of these was found on July 11 in a mangold-wurtzel field in the Exeter district. It was afterwards reared on fuchsia, and produced a moth on August 18. Nine others were reported from a nursery garden at Plymouth; they were fed up on dock--the plant upon which they had been found--and the moth was reared later in the year. In 1902 Mr. Jager received a caterpillar from Starcross about July 20, and this attained the moth state on September 27. A caterpillar, believed to be of this species, was found in a sunny garden at Lewes in Suss.e.x, July 20, 1906. {43}

According to h.e.l.lins the eggs are light green in colour, and the caterpillars hatch out in about three weeks. When it first emerges from the egg-sh.e.l.l the caterpillar is dirty white without spots, and the head and horn are black. The adult is dark green or black dotted with yellow; three yellow lines on the back and two rows of black-ringed yellow spots, with some black spots above them; each yellow spot is tinged with pink on the upper portion. Head black, marked with yellow; horn reddish, with the tip black. Sometimes the rings of the body are banded.

It feeds in June and July on vine, fuchsia, dock, and probably other plants. It may be noted that the foliage of house vines are stated to be unsuitable food. The blossoms of numerous plants are visited by the moths in the evening, among which are delphinium, petunia, honeysuckle, tobacco, rhododendron, valerian, and silene.

In the daytime it has been found resting on walls, windows, and also the curtains; on gra.s.s turf, railway metals, fences, and on plants and shrubs.

The distribution of this species is somewhat similar to that of the Silver-striped Hawk-moth, but it extends into Western China and is represented in North America.

THE SILVER-STRIPED HAWK (_Hippotion (Chaerocampa) celerio_).

Referring to this species in 1828 Stephens wrote: "The first recorded specimen of the perfect insect was taken flying in Bunhill-fields burying-ground so long ago as 1779: and the specimen now exists in a high state of preservation in Mr. Haworth's collection, having been purchased by him at the dispersion of that of Mr. Francillon. Subsequently to the above capture the larvae have been found several times in Cambridgeshire.... Two or three were also taken about fifteen {44} or sixteen years since in a garden at Norwich, and were kept until they changed to pupae; but unfortunately, in that state their metamorphosis ended. One of these pupae I have in my collection. Of late, however, the perfect insect has occurred more than once, and in totally different parts of the country. Three specimens, as I am informed by the Rev. F. W. Hope, were taken near Oxford several years ago. In August, 1826, an injured one was found resting on a wall near Birmingham; and last summer a second was secured not far distant from the same locality; the latter I have in my possession. Again, Mr.

Marshall informed me in March last, that, on his way to Manchester, he met with an individual who possessed upwards of a dozen living pupae, which were procured from larvae found in that neighbourhood during last season."

Humphrey and Westwood mention a specimen taken in Brighton in 1834, and in 1846 eight moths were obtained. Something like one hundred and twenty-five specimens of this species have been recorded between the year last quoted and the present time. Of these only one occurred in Ireland. This was a specimen taken at light on September 17, 1881, at Mullaghmore, County Sligo. Several were captured in Scotland, and one in Wales; but the bulk were obtained at various places in England, not in the south only but in the north also. The majority were met with in the autumn, but a specimen was reported as taken in May, 1848, at Harlestone, another in March, 1862, at Tooting, and a third in the Isle of Anglesea, July, 1865. In the last-named year nine specimens were captured in the autumn. Doubleday recorded a caterpillar found in a garden at Epping (October, 1867), and other caterpillars have been reported from Newmarket and Suss.e.x.

At least one example of the moth has been recorded almost annually since 1846, but captures seem to have been more numerous in 1861, 1866, 1870, 1879, 1881, and especially so in 1885. The caterpillar (figured on Plate 1) varies in ground colour, which may be pale brown, dark brown, or green.

There is a black line along the middle of the back, and a pinkish brown stripe on each side; the latter runs from the ring next the head to the horn, but is interrupted on ring four, and the back from this ring to the horn is covered with linear dots arranged in more or less regular rows; the underside is thickly sprinkled with black-ringed white dots; on each side of ring four there is a conspicuous oval mark made up of a blackish outer ring, an inner ring of yellowish, and one of reddish; the centre is blackish, with some yellowish dots upon it. Head small, pale brown; horn blackish and rather rough.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 16.

1. OLEANDER HAWK-MOTH.

2. SILVER-STRIPED HAWK-MOTH.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 17.

ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH.

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

{45} It feeds on vine (_Vitis vinifera_) and yellow bedstraw (_Galium verum_); also on fuchsia and virginia-creeper (_Ampelopsis_). August and September are given as months for this caterpillar, but the Newmarket and Epping examples referred to were taken in October.

The moth seems to visit us chiefly in September and October. It does not appear to have been so often taken at flowers as at light, or when resting by day, on a wall or window of a dwelling house or shop, to which it had been attracted at night by the illumination within. The species has a wide range through Africa and Southern Asia to Java, Borneo, and Australia. In Europe it is perhaps only native in southern parts; thence it sometimes wanders through Central Europe to Germany and Holland. The specimens visiting our islands may come from the latter country, or possibly in years of comparative plenty the moths come to us _via_ the west coast of Europe.

THE OLEANDER HAWK-MOTH (_Daphnis_ (_Chaerocampa_) _nerii_).

The forewings of this handsome moth (Plate 16) are pinkish grey, marbled with various shades of green and olive brown; some of the marbling edged with white. Hind wings greyish {46} brown shaded with greenish, with a whitish, waved cross line. The colours of the head, thorax, and body are similar to those of the wings.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 18.

CHRYSALIS OF OLEANDER-MOTH.

(Photo by W. J. Lucas.)]

The caterpillar feeds on the Oleander (_Nerium oleander_), and also on the lesser periwinkle (_Vinca minor_). When full grown it is olive green on the back from the hinder part of the third ring to the small, rough, and drooping, horn; the under surface and the whole of the first three rings ochreous; there is a divided brown spot on the ring nearest the head (first thoracic segment), and two larger blue-black spots on the third ring. These spots each enclose two whitish clouds; on the front edge of rings five to nine (second to sixth abdominal segments) are whitish dots, but these are fewer on rings eight and nine than on the others; a narrow whitish stripe, edged above and below with whitish dots, runs along the sides from ring five to the horn; spiracles are black with pale margins (Plate 1).

Chrysalis brown with blackish central line, which becomes broken and obscure on the body rings, broken again on the head, but continued thence along the under surface to the tips of the wing cases. The spiracles are blackish; the body is dotted, and the last rings are clouded with blackish.

I have only seen a preserved example of this caterpillar and a dead chrysalis; descriptions of each are from these.

The first published notification of the occurrence of this moth {47} in England is that of Stephens in 1835. He wrote: "A n.o.ble specimen of this remarkably beautiful insect (five inches three lines in expanse), was taken in the beginning of September, 1833, by a lady in her drawing-room at Dover. Whether the pupa had been imported in some of the numerous packages of foreign fruits, etc., or the insect itself had been brought over in one of the pa.s.sage-vessels, is a question not easily solved. The larva feeds upon an exotic plant; but has been found in a garden near Charmouth, as appears by a subsequent communication to the _Ent. Magazine_ by Captain Blomer."

The next record of the moth appears in the _Zoologist_ for 1852. "On the 11th of September a specimen of _Chaerocampa nerii_ was taken in Montpelier Road, Brighton, by a young gentleman at school, while it was hovering over a pa.s.sion flower." Two caterpillars were found in a garden at Eastbourne, feeding upon the leaves of potato, in October, 1859. In confinement they ate periwinkle, but they were not reared. The following records are, except where otherwise stated, of single specimens of the moth: Hastings, August 2, 1862; Sheffield, September 14, 1867; St. Leonards, October, 1868 (? 2 examples); Ascot, June, 1873; Lewes, September 3, 1874; Hemel Hempstead, October 15, 1876; Tottenham, Middles.e.x, Eastbourne, Suss.e.x, and Blandford, Dorset, September, 1884; Hartlepool and Prestwich, July, 1885; Brighton, September 7, 1886; Poplar, September 20, 1888; Dartmouth, September 26, 1890; Stowling, Kent, July, 1896; Yalding, Kent, September 18, Teignmouth, October 23, 1900; Banhead, Scotland, end September, 1901; Liverpool, in a steamship, and Atherstone, Warwickshire, October, 1903; Eastbourne, July 14, 1904; Lancaster, September 18, 1906. A specimen of _Daphnis hypothous_, Cramer, a native of India, Borneo, Java, and Ceylon, was captured at Crieff, Perthshire, in July, 1873, and was recorded as _D. nerii_, and the error was not rectified until 1891.