The Moths of the British Isles Volume Ii Part 11

The caterpillar, which feeds on cabbage and other Cruciferae, also on lettuce, tomato, etc., is green, inclining to yellowish green and dotted with white; three white lines along the back, and a white stripe along the sides. It is said to be more slender in form than the caterpillar of _P.

gamma_. (Plate 28, Fig. 1.)

The earliest British specimen was taken at flowers of red valerian in a garden at Exeter, August, 1868. The next year a specimen occurred, also in a garden, at Penzance. Then followed captures in Dorset, one 1885, and one (Isle of Portland) 1888. Two caterpillars were found in the Isle of Portland in 1894, and these produced moths in September of that year. At least eight moths were secured at Penzance in 1894, and specimens were subsequently reared from caterpillars found on cabbages in the gardens around Lynwood. In May, 1896, one example of the moth was taken by Mr.

Percy Richards at Norbiton, Surrey. The last recorded capture appears to be that by Mr. Finzi of a female specimen at Tenby, South Wales, on June 9, 1906. She deposited a few eggs in the collecting-box, and the caterpillars that hatched from them were reared on broccoli and lettuce, and produced moths, July 24-30.

_Plusia ni_ ranges through south-east and southern Europe, to Asia Minor, North Africa, and the Canaries. In the Isle of Capri it is said to be almost as common as _P. gamma_. _Bra.s.sicae_, Riley (1870), is a well-known _Plusia_ in America, where it is cla.s.sed among noxious insects. It is somewhat larger and browner in colour than European _ni_, but in every other respect it seems to agree so exactly that it can hardly be considered specifically distinct. {72}

THE SILVER Y (_Plusia gamma_).

This species, represented by portraits of two specimens on Plate 26, Figs.

1 and 2, varies somewhat in the ground colour of the fore wings, which ranges from a whitish grey through various tints of grey and brown to velvety black. The melanic form last referred to is very rare, but I caught one example of it at Eastbourne in the late summer of 1888, and I saw, but did not secure, another near Esher in the autumn of 1906; one taken at Dartmoor in September, 1894, is in Mr. F. J. Hanbury's collection.

Occasionally a purplish red tinge, often present below the silvery Y, spreads over a larger area of the fore wings. The Y-mark is well defined as a rule, but now and then specimens are found in which only the tail of the Y is distinct.

The caterpillar varies in general colour from pale green to a dark olive green approaching black. In the white dotted paler green forms there are several transverse whitish lines, some of them wavy, between the yellowish spiracular line and the dark green line along the middle of the back; head, marked with black on each cheek. It will eat almost every kind of low-growing vegetation, either wild or cultivated, and in some years may be found throughout the summer. Small larvae were recorded as seen at the end of October, 1901. The blackish chrysalis is enclosed in a whitish coc.o.o.n, often placed under leaves of thistle, burdock, etc.

The moth is seen in the spring and early summer (most probably immigrants), and again in the autumn, when it is generally more abundant.

This well-known migrating species has been observed in greater or lesser numbers over the whole of the British Isles. Its distribution abroad embraces the Palaearctic Region, North Africa, and North America. {73}

THE SCARCE SILVER Y (_Plusia interrogationis_).

Portraits of two examples of this species will be found on Plate 26, Figs.

4 and 5. The metallic central marks on the fore wings vary a good deal in size and in form, and are sometimes almost absent; these wings have the general greyish colour more clouded or suffused with blackish in some specimens than in others. Kane states that Irish specimens, when freshly emerged, have a tinge of violet purple, and Tutt notes some British specimens as beautifully tinted with rose colour (ab. _rosea_).

The caterpillar, which feeds on heather (_Calluna_) and bilberry (_Vaccinium_), is green inclining to blackish on the sides and underparts, with six white lines along the back; two of which are irregular; the raised dots are white and the bristles therefrom dark; head, green dashed with purple, shining. (Fenn.) After hibernation it may be found without much difficulty in May and June on its food plants, either in the daytime, or by the aid of a lamp at night. Large numbers fall victims to parasitical flies. (Plate 28, Fig. 2.) The white coc.o.o.ns enclosing the black chrysalids are spun up on or under the twigs of bilberry and heather. The moth is out in July and August, and may be found on moorlands, in the north of England from Shropshire (with Radnor) and Staffordshire on the west, and Lincolnshire on the east, through Scotland to Sutherland, and in all suitable localities in Ireland.

THE DARK SPECTACLE (_Abrostola triplasia_).

The fore wings of this moth are blackish grey inclining to purplish and rather shining; the basal area is pale reddish brown, edged by a curved dark chocolate brown cross line; a reddish grey band on the outer area clouded with ground colour {74} and edged above the inner margin by a dark chocolate brown curved line; raised scales on the central area and on the cross lines. Two oval reddish brown marks on the front of the collar have some resemblance to a pair of spectacles, hence the English name. (Plate 22, Fig. 2.)

The caterpillar is green, sprinkled with white dots; on rings 4, 5, and 11 are whitish-edged darker marks, and there is a dark line, also whitish-edged, along the middle of the back between rings 5 and 11; a white line on the back from ring 4 to the brownish head, and white-edged dark oblique lines on the sides of rings 6 to 11; the line low down along the sides is whitish with an ochreous tinge. A purplish brown form also occurs (Plate 27, Fig. 2), in which the pale markings are ochreous tinged. It is found from July to September on nettle and hops, the latter more especially. The earlier caterpillars, in some years, attain the moth state in August or early September, but the bulk of them remain in the chrysalis state during the winter, the moth emerging in June or July of the following year.

The species is not uncommon in most southern English counties, but becomes less frequent or more local northwards from the Midlands to c.u.mberland, Northumberland, and South Scotland. It occurs in Wales, and is widely spread in Ireland.

The range abroad extends to Amurland.

THE SPECTACLE (_Abrostola tripart.i.ta_).

This species, known also as _urticae_, Hubner, has the basal and outer marginal areas of the fore wings whitish grey, finely mottled with darker grey; the central area is greyish brown, mottled with darker brown. The spectacle mark in front of the thorax is whitish grey, ringed with black, and the raised scales on the cross lines and central area of the fore wings are more distinct in this species (Plate 22, Fig. 3). The {75} caterpillar is pale green, with white-edged dark-green V-shaped marks along the back, most in evidence on rings 4-11; two slender whitish lines on each side, only distinct on rings 1-4; a white stripe low down along the sides, edged above with dark green and with whitish streaks from it to the white edging of the marks on the back. Head, green, rather shining, with dusky marks on each cheek (adapted from Fenn). It feeds in July, at night, on the common stinging nettle, from the foliage of which it may be beaten out, or, by searching, found on the undersides of the leaves. In some years there is a second brood in September.

The moth is out in June, sometimes late May, and, when there is a second emergence, in August. Occasionally it is seen on fences, etc., but at night it visits the blossoms of various plants, both wild and cultivated; the flowers of spur-valerian (_Centranthus ruber_), honeysuckle, and woundwort (_Stachys_) being especially attractive, as also they are to the Dark Spectacle, and most of the species of _Plusia_.

Although apparently commoner in some counties than in others, this species ranges over the British Isles to the Orkneys.

The distribution abroad extends to Amurland.

THE MOTHER SHIPTON (_Euclidia mi_).

The ancient fathers of British Entomology were sometimes happy in their selection of names in the vernacular for those of our moths that were known to them at the time, and the present species is a fair example of this.

Moses Harris first dubbed it the Shipton Moth, but afterwards changed the name to the "Mask Moth." Both names refer to the peculiar shape of the markings which adorn the fore wings and bear a more or less fanciful resemblance to a grotesque mask, and even more closely to the profile of an historical dame yclept {76} Shipton. This character, also supposed to be like the letter M, hence the specific name _mi_, stands out very distinctly in the paler specimens, but in some of the darker individuals it is somewhat obscured. On the hind wings the spots are whitish or yellowish, and those composing the central series are sometimes united, and form a band. (Plate 26, Figs. 6 [male], 7 [female].)

The egg is greenish, and the caterpillar is pale ochreous-brown, with darker brown lines along the back and sides: head, ochreous, with brown lines. It feeds on clover and gra.s.ses, in July, August, and September, and the chrysalis, which is covered with a whitish powder, is enclosed in a brownish coc.o.o.n spun up in a blade of gra.s.s. All the early stages are figured on Plate 30. The enlarged chrysalis, Fig. 1, is from a photo by Mr.

H. Main. The moth flies in May and June, and is often common in meadows, on railway banks, and other sloping banks and such-like places where wild flowers abound. The species is widely distributed over England, Wales, and South Scotland; also Ireland.

The range abroad extends to Amurland.

THE BURNET COMPANION (_Euclidia glyphica_).

The ground colour of the fore wings is purplish brown, sometimes becoming greyish on the outer area; the s.p.a.ce between the dark brown or blackish cross bands is sometimes filled up with the darker colour. Some specimens are much greyer than others, and all the examples in a series from the Lake district that I have seen were distinctly grey, with very dark bands. The yellow on the hind wings sometimes inclines to orange, and sometimes it is so pale as to be almost whitish; there is also variation in the amount of black marking and shading on these wings. (Plate 26, Figs. 8 [male], 9 [female].)

The caterpillar is somewhat similar to that of the last species; it feeds on clovers and trefoils in July and August, but so far does not seem to have been noted to eat gra.s.ses.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 28.

1. THE NI MOTH: _caterpillar_.

2. SCARCE SILVER Y: _caterpillar_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 29.

1. LUNAR DOUBLE STRIPE.

2. THE ALCHYMIST.

3. CLIFDEN NONPAREIL.

{77} The moth is on the wing at the end of May and in June, and inhabits similar kinds of places to those mentioned for the last species, often in company with it, and also with the Burnet moths. Widely distributed over the greater part of the British Isles; common in some southern localities.

Its distribution abroad extends to Amurland, and in j.a.pan it is represented by the larger and paler form _consors_, Butler.

_Leucanitis_ (_Ophiusa_) _stolida_, Fab.--An example of this species, which is a native of Africa and South Europe, was captured by Mr. J. Jager in the neighbourhood of Dartmouth, S. Devon. It was in fine condition, and came to sugar on September 23, 1903.

THE LUNAR DOUBLE STRIPE (_Pseudophia lunaris_).

The portrait of this species on Plate 29, Fig. 1, is taken from a Spanish example. Exceedingly few British specimens have been recorded. The earliest seems to be the following: "Among my cabinet specimens there is one example of _Ophiodes lunaris_, captured at the Lowestoft Light in 1832. I conclude this is a great rarity, having seen many cabinets without it.--E. Chawner."

_Entom._ vi. p. 147 (1872-73). Presumably this is the same specimen as that mentioned by Stainton (1857), Newman (1869), and later authors, as taken in Hants by Captain Chawner. In 1860 one example was obtained at sugar at West Wickham; and in 1864 Bouchard caught two specimens at Killarney. On June 17, 1873, one came to sugar in Abbots Wood, Suss.e.x; one at Brighton in June, 1874, and another in Suss.e.x, May, 1875. One specimen came to light in Norfolk, May, 1878; and one to sugar at Folkestone, May, 1892. In June, 1901, a specimen was secured in Delamere Forest, Cheshire, also at sugar.

Dr. B. White's record of a capture at Perth makes a total of eleven specimens. {78}

The caterpillar is ochreous brown, sprinkled and lined with reddish brown; a stripe low down along the sides is reddish orange. It feeds, in July and August, on the leaves of oak and poplar, but it has not been found in our Isles.

THE ALCHYMIST (_Catephia alchymista_).

This moth seems to have been known as a British species to Haworth, but he, and subsequently Stephens (1830), referred it to _Noctua leucomelas_, Linn.

At all events, Stephen's description of the specimen in Haworth's cabinet bearing this name applies exactly to _C. alchymista_. In the _Ent. Ann._ for 1860 there is a figure of a specimen that was taken at sugar in the Isle of Wight, September, 1868. Seven years later, one was captured in an oak wood near Horsham, Suss.e.x (June 4), and another found on the trunk of an oak tree near Colchester (June 9). In 1882, a specimen was taken at sugar in a wood near Dover (June), and on June 24, 1888, one came to sugar at St. Leonards, Suss.e.x. In the last-named year, two other specimens, said to have been taken in the Isle of Wight, July, 1867, were recorded.

Fig. 2, Plate 29, represents a specimen from Dalmatia.