The Moths of the British Isles Volume Ii Part 45

_quadrimaculata_, Hatchett (Pinion-spotted Yellow), a form that used to occur rarely in the Dartford district, Kent, and of which an example is depicted on Plate 61, Fig. 2.

The caterpillar is green, with white lines and stripes; head, shining green. It feeds, in July and August, on wood sage (_Teucrium_), woundwort (_Stachys_), and dead nettle (_Lamium_). {287}

The moth is a lover of the woodlands, and as it flies in the daytime, especially when sunny, will be almost certainly noted on the wing by any one rambling through the woods in June, or even late May. It is generally plentiful in the south and west of England, but although its range extends through the northern parts of the country, and widely over Scotland to Sutherland, it is more or less local and often rare in the northern area indicated. In North Wales and South-west Ireland, it is local, but not uncommon.

THE PEAc.o.c.k MOTH (_Semiothisa_ (_Macaria_) _notata_).

Whitish, with an ochreous tinge, and clouded with ochreous grey; three indistinct cross lines on the fore wings, commencing as brownish spots on the front margin; a larger brownish spot, inclining to reddish, on the front margin beyond the angle of outer line, and a large blackish or brownish divided spot below it; a shallow notch under the tips of the wings, edged with dark brown, and fringed with smoky brown. (Plate 119, Fig. 7.)

The caterpillar is green, with brown markings on the sides, or brownish with green markings; head, black as a rule, but occasionally green. It feeds, in late June and in July, on birch and sallow; there is a second brood in August and September. The moth may be beaten out from birch bushes in May and June, and again in July and August. Woods are its favourite haunts, especially those where heather and small birch abound, but it is very local in the south of England, although it occurs in most of the counties from Kent to Cornwall. Barrett states that it is rather common in heathy woods in Staffordshire and Cheshire, and Forsythe gives it as local and uncommon in the Lancaster district; also recorded from Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Herts (Bentley Wood, 1901), and Gloucestershire; Glamorganshire, South Wales; Inverness and Ross, in Scotland. {288}

SHARP-ANGLED PEAc.o.c.k (_Semiothisa alternata_).

Whitish clouded and suffused with greyish; fore wings crossed by three dark lines, commencing in blackish spots on the front margin; a greyish band follows the outer line, a reddish brown spot at the costal end, and a blackish spot about the middle, the spot broken up by the veins, which are here ochreous; a rather deep notch below the tip is edged with black and fringed with blackish. Hind wings with a black central dot, and a greyish band beyond. (Plate 119, Fig. 8.)

Mr. A. J. Scollick has recorded that some caterpillars, presumably about a week old on June 24, 1905, went into chrysalis July 7 to 12. One moth emerged July 18, but no other appeared until December 20. A third came up on January 5, 1906, and a fourth on February 5.

The caterpillar is pale green, with reddish brown blotches on the sides, and sometimes the back is also reddish brown. It feeds on alder, sallow, and sloe, in June, and as a second generation in the autumn. (Eggs and a caterpillar, the latter after Hofmann, are figured on Plate 123.) The moth flies in May and early June, and occasionally in July or August.

This species, which is always local, is perhaps most frequently met with in the New Forest, Hants, but it is not uncommon in some parts of the Isle of Wight, Dorset, Devon, and Kent. Also noted from a few other southern counties, and from Suffolk, Norfolk, and Westmoreland. In Wales, it has occurred at Neath, Glamorganshire.

The range of this species abroad, and also that of the last, extends to Amurland.

TAWNY-BARRED ANGLE (_Semiothisa liturata_).

The more frequent forms of this species are shown on Plate 119, Figs. 9, 10. In some examples the cross lines are almost absent, but in others they are very distinct and blackish in colour; the orange yellow band in the outer marginal area varies in width and in strength, but it is usually present, even in the sooty brown form ab. _nigrofulvata_, Collins (Plate 61, Fig. 7), described from Delamere, Cheshire, also found in Shropshire, and recorded from "Oakley Wood."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 120.

1, 3. EARLY MOTH.

2, 4, 5, 6. SPRING USHER.

7, 9. SCARCE UMBER.

8, 10, 11, 12. DOTTED BORDER.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 121.

1. DARK-BORDERED BEAUTY: _eggs_.

2, 2a. BORDERED BEAUTY: _eggs and caterpillar_.

3. LITTLE THORN: _caterpillar_.

{289} The caterpillar (Plate 123, Fig. 2) is green, with white or creamy transverse lines and stripes; head, reddish. Another form is pale ochreous grey or brownish, with pale grey lines and stripes; head, almost black, with purple tinge. It feeds on the needles of Scots pine (_Pinus sylvestris_), in July and August, and occasionally in September and October. A photograph of the chrysalis by Mr. H. Main, enlarged to twice natural size, is shown on Plate 123.

The moth is to be found in fir woods, where it lurks among the branches or sits on the trunks, or on the fallen needles on the ground. The moths of the first generation appear in June and July and, where it occurs, the second flies in August and September. Widely distributed over the British Isles, but not noted north of Moray, in Scotland.

EARLY MOTH (_Hybernia rupicapraria_).

Although generally common, and often abundant, over England, Wales, the south of Scotland, and Ireland, this species (Plate 120, Figs. 1 [male], 3 [female]) hardly ever comes under notice unless hedgerows and hawthorn bushes are examined in January and February, by the aid of a lantern, after darkness has set in. Then the males, and almost wingless females, will be found in numbers, sitting at the ends of the twigs.

The caterpillar is whitish green, clouded with darker green, striped with white along the back, and marked with white on the sides. The general colour is sometimes very dark green, approaching black, and in this form the white markings are {290} more striking. It feeds, in April and May, on hawthorn, sloe, plum, and bilberry.

SPRING USHER (_Hybernia leucophaearia_).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 9.

SPRING USHER AT REST.

(Photo by W. J. Lucas.)]

On Plate 120 are shown the typical and more usual forms of this variable species. Fig. 2 represents the male, and Fig. 4 the female. The form with blackish base and outer margin is ab. _marmorinaria_, Esper (Plate 120, Fig. 5). Ab. _merularia_, Weymer, is entirely black, and a modification of this form is shown in Fig. 6. Between each of these extremes and the type there are various gradations.

The caterpillar is usually some shade of green, with yellowish lines on the back, and some have brownish marks on the sides; in others there are dark brown marks on the back of each ring. It feeds on the leaves of oak, in April and May.

The moth rests on tree-trunks, fences, etc., and the males may be thus found during the day in February, earlier or later in some seasons; the female is less often obtained on trees and fences, but may be beaten, together with the male, from the dead leaves which remain upon oak and other bushes.

The species appears to occur, more or less locally, in most of the English counties; it has also been recorded from Pembrokeshire and Flintshire, in Wales. In Scotland, it is obtained in {291} the south, and northwards to Aberdeenshire. There are but two records from Ireland, and these are doubtful.

Abroad, the range extends to Amurland and j.a.pan.

SCARCE UMBER (_Hybernia aurantiaria_).

One specimen of each s.e.x of this orange yellow species will be found on Plate 120, where Fig. 7 represents the male, and Fig. 9 the female; the cross lines, in the male, are usually distinct on all the wings, but those on the hind pair are sometimes very faint, and occasionally absent. The ground colour is paler in some specimens than in others, and there is variation in the amount of purplish speckling, in the purplish clouding following the second line, and in the submarginal series of purplish marks of the fore wings. The marginal dots are sometimes absent from the hind wings, most frequently in specimens with faint cross lines on these wings.

The eggs (Plate 125, Fig. 2), when I received them in February, were purplish, or violet brown.

The caterpillar is yellowish, inclining to ochreous, lined with brown on the back, and striped with purplish on the sides; underside, dark purplish brown, inclining to blackish, and striped with yellowish. It feeds in the spring, sometimes to June, on oak, birch, blackthorn, etc., and may be found on the leaves during the day. The moth is out in the latter part of the year, from October, and is best obtained at night, when sitting on the twigs of trees and bushes, but a specimen or two may be found on tree-trunks, palings, etc., in the daytime.

The species is widely distributed over England, and in some parts it is common in woods; also occurs in Wales. In Scotland it is very rare and local in Roxburghshire; local and uncommon in the Clyde area, and has been recorded from other parts of the country up to Aberdeen. Rare in Ireland, but noted from {292} Tyrone (local among birches at Cookstown), Monaghan, Fermanagh (Enniskillen), and Galway.

DOTTED BORDER (_Hybernia marginaria_).

On Plate 120 four specimens of this rather variable species are depicted.

Figs. 8 [male] and 10 [female] show the more usual form; Fig. 12 represents the northern English, blackish var. _fuscata_, Harrison, and Fig. 11 an intermediate form resulting from a cross-pairing of _fuscata_ [female] with a southern [male]. Somewhat similar forms to the last have been captured in Wear Dale, Durham.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 10.

DOTTED BORDER, MALE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 11.

DOTTED BORDER, FEMALE.]

(Photos by H. Main.)

The caterpillar is figured on Plate 125, from a coloured drawing by Mr. A.

Sich. It is described by Fenn as dull yellow, olive green, or greenish brown; a series of dark grey X-like marks on the back, most distinct on rings 5-11; the spiracles are white, each placed in a black cloud, and the s.p.a.ces between them paler, sometimes yellowish; the last ring is often brown without marking, and the front rings have a purplish stripe above; under surface, paler throughout. It feeds, in April and May, as a rule, but has been found later, on hawthorn, sloe, oak, birch, alder, sallow, etc., and may be obtained in the daytime.

[Ill.u.s.tration]