The Moths of the British Isles Volume Ii Part 14

Although some examples of the male have the outer and inner areas whitish, as in the female, they can be distinguished by their darker hind wings and the blackish central crescent thereon. A form of the female in which the large central patch of the fore wings is reddish brown has been named _rufescens_, Tutt; there may be males also of this form, but I have not seen any. In both s.e.xes, the brown patch extends nearer to the inner margin in some specimens than in others, and not infrequently there is a spur from the lower edge of the patch to this margin.

The caterpillar is green, with darker green lines, one along the middle of the back, and two along each side; the usual raised dots are green or brownish, and each emits a fine hair; the head is green and rather glossy.

It feeds on bilberry (_Vaccinium myrtillus_) in August and September.

(Plate 37, Fig. 1; after Hofmann.) The moth, which is out in June and July, hides by day among heather, bilberry, etc., especially where these plants overhang the edges of banks or trenches. It may be found locally in most of the southern counties of England from Kent to Cornwall; also in Berks, Stafford, and Leicester. It has been recorded from Suffolk, Worcester, Cheshire (one at electric light, Chester, July, 1900), and North Wales. In Ireland it is widely distributed, and is not uncommon in Co. Kerry.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 34.

1. SMALL FANFOOT: _caterpillar_.

2. FANFOOT: _caterpillar_.

3. CLAY FAN-FOOT: _caterpillar_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 35.

1, 2. FAN-FOOT.

3. SMALL FAN-FOOT.

4. LESSER BELLE.

5. DOTTED FAN-FOOT.

6. CLAY FAN-FOOT.

7. COMMON FAN-FOOT.

8, 9. BEAUTIFUL SNOUT.

10. THE SNOUT.

11, 12. b.u.t.tONED SNOUT.

{93}

THE SNOUT (_Hypena proboscidalis_).

This species (Plate 35, Fig. 10) is more generally distributed and common than any other of the group. Wherever nettles grow in quant.i.ty there we may expect to find this moth in its season, that is, in June and July. In favourable years there is sometimes a second flight, on a small scale, in the autumn; this was the case in 1905.

The caterpillar is green, with raised dots, from each of which a brownish hair arises; the line along the middle of the back is dark, and those along the sides are yellowish; the head is ochreous brown. It feeds on nettles in May and June. (Plate 37, Fig. 3; after Hofmann.)

In Amurland, and some other parts of eastern Asia, the species is represented by the brown-sprinkled yellowish form, var. _deleta_, Staudinger.

THE BLOXWORTH SNOUT (_Hypena obsitalis_).

The fore wings of this species are brown, crossed by a number of darker lines and a thicker angulated line beyond the middle; the latter is outwardly edged with pale brown, chiefly towards the costa; some white dots on the veins represent the submarginal line, and below the tips of the wings there are some black streaks.

One example of this form of the species, which is a variable one, was taken by the Rev. O. Pickard, Cambridge, in {94} September, 1884. He found it sitting on a door-jamb in his garden at Bloxworth, Dorset.

The specimen shown on Plate 36, Fig. 9, hails from Mogador.

Abroad, the range of the species includes southern Europe, Asia Minor, Egypt, North-West Africa, Madeira, and the Canaries.

THE b.u.t.tONED SNOUT (_Hypena rostralis_).

Two forms of this species are shown on Plate 35. The typical one is represented by Fig. 12, and Fig. 11 shows ab. _palpalis_, Tutt (?), Fabr.

and Stephens. The front margin of the fore wings is often streaked with a pale colour, and in ab. _radiatalis_, Hubner (134), which is otherwise similar to the last-named form, this is pale or ochreous brown. A uniform pale greyish form has been named ab. _unicolor_, Tutt, and one almost entirely ochreous or greyish-ochreous, ab. _ochrea_, Tutt.

The caterpillar is green, with blackish dots; a darker line along the middle of the back, and white lines along the sides; head, yellowish green dotted with black. It feeds on hop (_Humulus lupulus_) in June and early July, and in the daytime may be found on the undersides of the leaves.

(Plate 37, Fig. 2; after Hofmann.) The moth is out in August and September, and after hibernation reappears in the spring, and may be met with until June. It may be obtained at sugar, or at ivy bloom. Given the food plant, the species will probably be found in most of the counties of England from Worcester southwards, but its occurrence northwards appears to have been very rarely noted.

The range abroad extends to East Siberia.

THE WHITE-LINE SNOUT (_Hypenodes taenialis_ (_albistrigalis_)).

This species, and also the two immediately following, are so small in size, and so obscure in appearance, that they are {95} probably more often neglected than secured when met with. The moth under consideration, and of which the s.e.xes are figured on Plate 36 (Figs. 3 [male] and 4 [female]) has brownish fore wings which are crossed by two rather irregular blackish lines, sometimes hardly traceable on the front margin; the outer line is edged externally with whitish, and the s.p.a.ce between the lines is often somewhat darker; the black central mark is more or less X-shaped.

The caterpillar does not seem to have been noted in this country, and it is not well known on the continent. It is said to feed on the flowers, chiefly the withering ones, of heather and thyme, in August and September.

The moth is out in July and early August, sometimes in September. Its haunts are the edges of woods, hillsides, and sloping banks, where there is plenty of bushes and herbage to hide in. From such retreats it may be disturbed, but is more easily obtained at sugar, or honey dew, and sometimes at ivy bloom. It is widely distributed over the southern half of England; occurs in South Wales, and has been recorded from Cheshire and Yorks.

Abroad, the species is found in Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Armenia, and the Canaries; also recorded from south Sweden and Corea.

THE PINION-STREAKED SNOUT (_Hypenodes costaestrigalis_).

Although somewhat similar in the general colour of the forewings, this species (Plate 36) may be distinguished from the preceding by the whitish dash from the tips of the wings and the black streak running inwards from it; this black streak is to be seen clearly in Fig. 6 [male], but owing to the darker ground colour is less distinct in Fig. 7 [female].

The caterpillar is shining purplish-brown, inclining to yellowish-brown below, with three pale brownish lines along {96} the back, the central one rather broad, and that on each side is edged below with dusky. What the food may be in a natural state has not been ascertained, but the caterpillars have been reared from the egg on a diet of thyme flowers, supplemented by the bodies of a few brothers or sisters. July and August.

The moth has been noted in June (end), July, August, September, and October; but whether there are two generations or only one in the year is not definitely known; the a.s.sumption is that there are two.

This species is partial to moist localities, and its favourite haunts are fens, mosses, or marshy heaths, and the outskirts of damp woods. It ranges over the greater part of England, and is found in Wales (Pembrokeshire). In Scotland it has been noted from Roxburghshire, and is locally common in Clydesdale. It is known to occur in Cork, Kerry, and Sligo, and probably is to be found in other parts of Ireland.

THE MARSH OBLIQUE-BARRED (_Tholomiges turfosalis_).

The species shown on Plate 36, Fig. 5, is much smaller than either of the last two. The narrow fore wings are whitish-ochreous, more or less thickly sprinkled with brown; the first of the three dark cross lines is often indistinct, the second is bent under the black central dot, and the third runs obliquely to the tip of the wing; the last two are each outwardly edged with whitish.

Nothing seems to be known of the early stages.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 36.

1. BEAUTIFUL HOOK-TIP.

2. WAVED BLACK.

3, 4. WHITE-LINE SNOUT.

5. MARSH OBLIQUE BARRED.

6, 7. PINION-STREAKED SNOUT.

8. OLIVE CRESCENT.

9. BLOXWORTH SNOUT.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 37.

1. BEAUTIFUL SNOUT: _caterpillar_.

2. b.u.t.tONED SNOUT: _caterpillar_.

3. THE SNOUT: _caterpillar_.