The Moths of the British Isles Volume I Part 9

THE PALE PROMINENT (_Pterostoma palpina_).

This blackish streaked, pale brownish grey moth has been known as the Pale Prominent since 1775, when Moses Harris gave it this name. Beyond the black scaled tooth-like projection the inner margin is notched. The antennae of the female are pectinated, but the teeth are shorter than those of the male; and the blackish streak on the wings are usually less defined. Except that some specimens are more strongly marked than others there is little to note in the way of aberration. Mr. Harwood of Colchester has, however, recorded an almost black variety, and this may be referable to the form from Russian Lapland, known as var. _lapponica_, Teich. The moth is figured on Plate 33, and the early stages on Plate 32.

The caterpillar is bluish green, with white lines along the back and sides, and a black edged yellow stripe along the spiracles; the stripe is marked with reddish on the three rings nearest the head. It feeds chiefly on poplar, but has been found on willow and sallow. Usually to be obtained full grown early in July or late in June; in the south and south-east of England, it is found also in September and October. The chrysalis is purplish, or reddish, brown and rather shining. It may be found, in a coc.o.o.n formed of silk mixed with particles of earth, among the roots of gra.s.s, etc., at the foot of poplar or willow trees. Moths are on the wing in May and June, and again in July and August. Coming to electric and gas lamps, as well as entering lighted rooms, and illuminated moth traps, they are often secured; otherwise they are rarely seen in a state of nature. The species is most frequent, perhaps, in the southern countries, but seems to occur throughout England; it becomes scarcer from the Midlands northwards to Durham and c.u.mberland. It occurs in Southern Scotland, and has been recorded from Moray. In Ireland it is widely distributed, but is not noted as common in any locality. The range abroad extends through temperate Europe into Asia Minor, and as far east as China and j.a.pan.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 34.

1, 1a, 1b, 1c. CHOCOLATE TIP: _egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and coc.o.o.n_.

2, 2a, 2b. SMALL CHOCOLATE TIP: _caterpillar, chrysalis, coc.o.o.n and larval retreat_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 35.

1, 2. CHOCOLATE-TIP MOTH.

3. BUFF-TIP MOTH.

4. SCARCE CHOCOLATE-TIP, _male_; 5 _female_.

6. SMALL CHOCOLATE-TIP, _male_; 7 _female_.

{81}

THE BUFF-TIP (_Phalera bucephala_).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 21.

EGGS OF BUFF-TIP MOTH.]

This species (Plate 35, Fig. 3) is easily recognized by its violet-grey fore wings, and the more or less round, pale, ochreous blotch on the outer third. The blotch is clouded, to a greater or lesser extent, with pale brown, and the inner area of the wings is flecked with silvery grey; the cross lines are edged with reddish brown.

The rather downy caterpillar is yellow, with several interrupted blackish lines, and of these the one along the middle of the back is the broadest and blackest; head black. It feeds, during August and September, in companies, until nearly full grown, and the foliage of almost any kind of tree or bush appears to be suitable food, although that of elm, lime, and hazel is often selected by the female moth when depositing her whitish eggs, which {82} she lays in neatly arranged batches on the undersides of the leaves. If undisturbed, a company of these caterpillars quickly clear a fair-sized branch of all leaf.a.ge. The chrysalis is purplish brown (the early stages are shown on Plate 37).

The moth flies in June and July, but is rarely seen in the daytime. The wings in repose are closely folded down to the body and the insect has then a very stick-like appearance, and may thus easily escape detection.

Occurs throughout England and Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. It is most common, and the caterpillar often abundant, in London and its suburbs, as well as other southern parts of the country. Its range extends through Europe to Northern Asia Minor, Armenia, and Siberia.

THE CHOCOLATE-TIP (_Pygaera curtula_).

Two examples of this moth are shown on Plate 35. Fig. 2 represents the spring (April and May) form, and Fig. 1 the summer (July and August) form.

Sometimes there is a third brood, in September or October, and Barrett describes the individuals of this as "pale drab, dusted with darker atoms, and with the chocolate blotch paler towards the apex." Hybrids have been obtained from a pairing between _curtula_ female and _anach.o.r.eta_ male, and these were most like the female parent. The early stages are figured on Plate 34, Figs. 1-1c.

The verdigris-green eggs are laid in batches on the leaves of poplar and aspen, upon which the caterpillars feed in May and June, and, as a second brood, in August and September. In colour the caterpillar, which is rather hairy, is grey, with a pinkish tinge, sprinkled with black, and with orange spots on the sides; there is a raised black spot on the fourth ring, and another on the eleventh; head blackish. The chrysalis is reddish-brown, spun up in a packet of leaves. This species appears to be less common in England than formerly. It is, {83} perhaps, more often observed in Kent and Suss.e.x than in the other counties it inhabits, which, according to Barrett, are Berks, Ess.e.x, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, in all of which it is local; also, but more rarely, in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Yorkshire, and c.u.mberland, the latter county being its northern limit. To the above may be added Hertfordshire and Middles.e.x.

Although caterpillars are reported to have been found in Ireland, the moth has not been reared in that country.

This species is distributed through Northern and Central Europe, extending to South France, Corsica, North Italy, Bulgaria, Armenia, and Mongolia.

THE SCARCE CHOCOLATE-TIP (_Pygaera anach.o.r.eta_).

This moth is distinguished from that last referred to by the black spots in and just below the blotch at the tip of the fore wings; the blotch itself is dull reddish, merging outwardly into greyish, and is intersected by a white line. There is some variation in the tint of the general colour, ranging from dusky to reddish grey, but otherwise the species is constant (Plate 35, Figs. 4, 5).

The caterpillar, which feeds on poplar and sallow from May to August, or even later, is rather hairy, dark grey or blackish in colour; there are four ochreous or whitish lines on the back, and a row of black spots followed by a series of orange ones on the sides; below the spiracles are some yellowish markings; the raised spots on rings four and eleven are reddish brown; the former has a white spot on each side, and the back of the latter is edged with white; head black and rather glossy. Chrysalis blackish in hue, spun up among leaves. The moths emerge in May, and again in July; in confinement there is sometimes a third brood in September.

Except that two {84} specimens were reported as found in a street at Deal, the moth does not seem to have been noticed at large.

This species was known to Haworth, but, as a British insect, was exceedingly rare until 1859, when Dr. Knaggs found some caterpillars upon poplar in the neighbourhood of Folkestone. From the stock then obtained the moths were reared in numbers for some time. Batches of eggs were also put down in various localities, and the species seems to have flourished in some of them for a while, but failed eventually to establish itself in any of them. Then the species disappeared from the Folkestone locality, although a caterpillar or two were found there in 1861, and on to 1912 in other places on the Kentish coast. In 1893 eggs were obtained at St.

Leonard's, in Suss.e.x, and thus originated a new stock.

The species has a wide range in Central and Northern Europe, extending to some of the southern parts; it also occurs in Siberia, Amurland, China, and j.a.pan.

THE SMALL CHOCOLATE-TIP (_Pygaera pigra_).

This species will be recognized by its smaller size and less distinct chocolate blotch on the tips of the fore wings. The ground colour varies from whitish grey to pale brownish grey; the pale cross lines are usually well defined; the first is bordered with chocolate colour, and angled above the middle; the third line runs from a white spot on the costa and through the chocolate patch. The moth is shown on Plate 35, and the early stages on Plate 34.

Of the offspring resulting from eggs laid by a female _curtula_ that had paired with a male _pigra_, and also those from a female _pigra_ crossed with a male _curtula_, the hybrids in each case most nearly resembled the female parent.

The eggs are pale olive green tending to brownish, and all that I have seen have been laid in irregular lines on leaves, or {85} on the sides of a chip box. The caterpillar is greyish, with some short hairs and black dots; the back is broadly marked with yellow, and there is a yellow stripe, with black dots on it, low down on the sides; rings four and eleven have each a raised black spot; head blackish. Feeds from June to September, on dwarf sallow (_Salix repens_), and also on young plants of aspen. Like other caterpillars of this genus, it hides by day in a packet of leaves spun together. There are certainly two broods, if not more, in the year. The moth emerges in May, and more irregularly in July or August, and October.

Except when attracted to a light, the moth is rarely seen, but in fens, marshes, and boggy places generally, the caterpillars may often be obtained in numbers almost throughout the United Kingdom. Its distribution abroad embraces Northern and Central Europe, with extension into Northern Spain and Italy; Bulgaria, South-east Russia, and Armenia.

THYATIRIDae.

The nine British species next to be considered belong to the old family Cymatophoridae, but as the name _Cymatophora_, as indicated by Hubner in the "Tentamen" (1816), is now generically used by authors for some species of Geometridae; and as Hubner's _Verzeichniss_ generic names will have to be used for the species previously included in _Cymatophora_, Tr., the term Thyatiridae has here been adopted for this family--the Polyplocidae of Meyrick and others.

THE BUFF ARCHES (_Habrosyne derasa_).

This pretty species (Plate 36, Figs. 1, 2) is well distributed over the greater part of England and not at all uncommon in the more sylvan districts of the southern counties. It occurs in Wales but has only once been recorded from Scotland. In {86} Ireland it is found in almost every well-wooded locality, but is not generally common. The moth hides among the foliage of the bramble and also creeps under the withered leaves on the ground. It comes freely to sugar, and is often the earliest to attend the banquet, but is rather skittish at first and should be given time to settle down.

The fore wings are pale olive grey with two whitish streaks across them, the first oblique approaching the second towards the inner margin; the s.p.a.ce between the streaks is clouded with brownish buff and there is a whitish cloud on the costal area, and some strongly waved cross lines before the second streak.

The caterpillar, which is rusty brown, with a blackish central line on the back, a black edged yellowish spot on ring four, a smaller one on ring five, and sometimes a tiny one on ring seven, feeds in August and September, sometimes later, on bramble, and is said to eat hawthorn and hazel. It hides during the day and comes up to feed at night. The chrysalis, which is enclosed in an earthen coc.o.o.n below the surface of the ground, or sometimes among moss, is purplish black with the ring divisions reddish; the a.n.a.l spike is furnished with hooks. As a rule the moth does not emerge until June or July following the year of pupation, but it has been found on the wing in September and October.

Distributed over Central Europe, extending into Southern France, and Northern Italy, Southern Sweden and Livonia, and eastward to the Himalayas, Corea, and j.a.pan.

THE PEACH-BLOSSOM (_Thyatira batis_).

The olive brown fore wings of this moth are adorned with five pink-tinged whitish spots, and clouded with brown; the pink tinge varies in amount and in brightness, and sometimes gives place to pale ochreous. The moth is figured on Plate 36, and the early stages on Plate 37.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 36.

1. BUFF ARCHES MOTH, _male_; 2 _female_.

3. PEACH-BLOSSOM MOTH, _male_; 4 _female_.

5. FIGURE OF EIGHTY, _male_; 6. _female_.

7. POPLAR LUTESTRING, _male_; 8 _female_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 37.

1, 1a. BUFF-TIP: _eggs and caterpillar_.

2, 2a, 2b. PEACH-BLOSSOM: _eggs, caterpillar and chrysalis_.