The Moths of the British Isles Volume Ii Part 47

RANNOCH BRINDLED BEAUTY (_Nyssia lapponaria_).

The s.e.xes of this species are shown on Plate 134, where Fig. 3 represents the male, and Fig. 5 the female. It was not known to occur in the British Isles until 1871, when a male specimen was captured in Perthshire, on April 20 of that year. Mr. William M. Christy, in 1895, bred some moths from larvae obtained in the Highlands of Scotland, and he sent eggs to Mr. F. W.

Frohawk, who worked out the life history, and described and figured all the stages from egg to perfect insect (_Entom._ xxviii. 237). In July, 1900 and 1901, Mr. E. A. c.o.c.kayne found {298} caterpillars, in Perthshire (Rannoch district), on ling, heath, and bog-myrtle; and in June, 1904, he published (_Entom._ x.x.xvii. 149) some interesting observations on the habits of the species in its native haunts. The greenish yellow eggs are laid in batches of 10 to 150 in the dry corollas of the cross-leaved heath, and less frequently between the stem and sheath of reeds, or in cracks in dead bracken stems, etc. The caterpillar (Plate 126, Fig. 3) is pale drab, inclining to a yellowish tint; irregular yellow stripes along the back and sides, and lines of blackish streaks between the stripes. It will eat birch, sallow, and hawthorn, in captivity; but in the open it feeds on heather and bog-myrtle: May-July. The chrysalis is reddish brown, rather paler on the wing covers (figured on Plate 126 from a photo, twice natural size, by Mr. H. Main). The moth is out in April and May, and sits on the twigs of heather and the stems of bog-myrtle. It has only been recorded from Perthshire, and is there very local, frequenting damp places near streams.

Mr. A. W. Mera has obtained hybrids from a crossing of this species with _N. zonaria_.

BELTED BEAUTY (_Nyssia zonaria_).

Two males and a female of this species are depicted on Plate 124 (Figs. 4, 5 [male], 6 [female]). There is variation in the ground colour of the male, from white to greyish, and the markings are sometimes greyish brown and sometimes blackish. Kane states that, in Ireland, a large number of Connemara specimens have the fore wings entirely white, broken by dark veins, front margin, and three streaks parallel to the outer margin. The caterpillar is greenish, with dusky grey lines and freckles on the back, and a yellow stripe low down along the sides; the latter is edged below with blackish; the underside is black and striped with grey; head, greyish, freckled with darker. It feeds on sallow, dandelion, dock, plantain, clover, yarrow, gra.s.s, etc.: May to August. (Plate 126, Fig. 4; chrysalis, Fig. 4a; eggs, Plate 133, Fig. 4.) The moth is out in March and April, and rests by day on or among herbage. The male has been known to fly in the sunshine, but its more usual time of flight is the early evening.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 126.

1. PALE BRINDLED BEAUTY: _caterpillar_.

2. SMALL BRINDLED BEAUTY: _caterpillar_.

3, 3a, 3b. RANNOCH BRINDLED BEAUTY: _egg, natural size enlarged.

caterpillar and chrysalis_.

4, 4a. BELTED BEAUTY: _caterpillar and chrysalis_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 127.

1-3. OAK BEAUTY.

{299} The species is locally common on sand hills, on the coast of Cheshire, Flintshire, and Carnarvon; Wallasey is a noted locality, and the earliest British specimens were taken in that district about 1832; it also occurs on the Lancashire coast, in the Liverpool and Blackpool districts.

In Ireland, it was first noted in Co. Antrim, where caterpillars were found at Ballycastle, and about twenty-two years ago moths were captured at the same place. Other Irish localities are Achill Island, off the coast of Mayo; Slyne Head and Roundstone, Connemara coast. There are records of its occurrence in the Isles of Skye and Tiree.

BRINDLED BEAUTY (_Lycia hirtaria_).

A male and a female are shown on Plate 124 (Figs. 7 [male], 8 [female]), and these represent the more usual form of the s.e.xes in the London district. Some specimens are paler, others are darker; and not infrequently the wings are sprinkled with yellowish.

On Plate 1 (Figs. 4, 6, 8) will be found figures of a female and two male examples of a large race taken by Mr. H. McArthur this season (1908) at Aviemore, in Scotland. One of these males is of a remarkable ochreous coloration, whilst in the other the contrast of grey ground and black marking is equally striking. The female is blackish sprinkled with ochreous.

The caterpillar is purplish grey or reddish brown clouded and freckled with darker, and spotted with yellow on rings 5-8; the first ring is also marked with yellow in front, the head is freckled with black, and about the jaws with yellow. It feeds on lime, elm, willow, and fruit trees, especially plum and pear, {300} in May, June, and July. For the example figured on Plate 128, Fig. 1, I am indebted to Mr. Norman Riley; an Aviemore example is shown in colour on Plate 1, Fig. 7. The chrysalis (Plate 128, Fig. 1a) is dark reddish brown inclining to blackish. The moth comes out in March and April and is often a common object on tree-trunks, etc., in the London parks, squares, and gardens. Its range extends over the south of England, and northwards to Yorkshire and c.u.mberland, but it is nowhere so plentiful in England as throughout the Metropolitan area. It occurs in Wales, in Ireland, and in Scotland up to Inverness.

OAK BEAUTY (_Pachys_ (_Amphidasys_) _strataria_).

The fore wings of this species (Plate 127, Figs. 1-3) are white, sprinkled and cross lined with black; the first line is bordered inwardly, and the second line outwardly with brownish; frequently these two lines fall closely together on the inner margin, and sometimes they are united by a blackish blotch at this point; the brownish borders of the lines vary in width, and in some specimens the outer area beyond the second black line is almost entirely brownish; in other specimens the central and outer areas are almost free of black speckling, and in such examples the brownish borders of the lines stand out conspicuously. The caterpillar (Plate 128, Fig. 2) is usually some shade of brown--greyish, violet, or purplish--mottled and freckled with a darker hue. It feeds on oak, birch, and elm, will also eat sloe, plum, rose, etc., and is found from May to July. In confinement, larvae hatched in early May have gone down to pupate during the second week in June.

The moth is out in March and April as a rule, but has been noted in late February, and also in early May. It may be seen resting during the day on trunks of trees, palings, etc., generally near the ground; when on the wing at night the male will come to light. Although not generally common it is widely distributed over England and Wales. In Ireland it has occurred in Wicklow, Westmeath, and Cork, and has been reared from pupae obtained at Glenmalure in the former county.

Hybrids resulting from a cross between _strataria_ [male] and _betularia_ [female] have been named _herefordi_, Tutt.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 128.

1. BRINDLED BEAUTY: _caterpillar and chrysalis_.

2. OAK BEAUTY: _eggs, natural size and enlarged, and caterpillar_.

3. PEPPERED MOTH: _caterpillar_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 129.

1-3. PEPPERED MOTH.

{301}

PEPPERED MOTH (_Pachys betularia_).

Typically (Plate 129, Figs. 1 [male], 3 [female]) the wings are white, "peppered" with black, and with more or less distinct cross lines, also black. The black speckling varies in amount, in some examples it is almost absent, whilst in others it is so dense that the wings appear to be black sprinkled with white. Specimens of the last form are intermediate between the type and the melanic ab. _doubledayaria_, Milliere (Fig. 2). This black form, which seems to have been unknown about sixty years ago, is now much commoner than the type in the South-west Riding of Yorkshire, and has spread into Lancashire, Cheshire, and southwards to Lincolnshire. On the wolds of the latter county, and on Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, it is said to be the dominant form of the species. The aberration also occurs in the eastern and the southern counties of England to Hampshire. Northwards, the form has extended to Clydesdale in Scotland, where one was reared from a caterpillar obtained near Paisley. In Wales _doubledayaria_ is in the ascendant at Newport, Monmouth, and in Ireland one example of this variety together with some intermediate and typical specimens were reared from caterpillars collected at Castle Bellingham, Co. Louth. Possibly the liberal distribution of the eggs of _doubledayaria_ may have had something to do with the comparatively rapid extension of this form, at least to districts far away from its original locality.

What is known as the buff var. of this species dates back to {302} the year 1874, when a buff female, paired with a black male, was captured at Heaton Park. From the eggs she deposited caterpillars hatched, and in due course pupated, but the moths reared from them were all either typical, or black.

Some of the female moths were, however, given to other collectors to pair with black males with the result that buff specimens appeared among the moths reared by seven collectors. Subsequently, by breeding only from buff males and females 80 per cent. of this form were said to be obtained. By the year 1880, however, the race was extinct. In all the examples of the buff var. that I have seen, including a pair in my own collection, the ground colour is normal, but the usual black markings of the wings are brownish buff; I understand, however, that there are specimens in which the ground colour is ochreous. The vapour of chlorine will change an ordinary specimen to a buff var.; and it is said that caterpillars reared in an apartment where this vapour is present will produce these buff varieties.

Mr. Mansbridge has recently described ab. _ochrearia_, and in this form the typical black markings are present on an ochreous ground. The specimen, a female, was captured at St. Annes, Lancashire, June, 1891.

Gynandrous examples have been obtained, and seven of these abnormal forms occurred in a single brood reared from eggs by Mr. A. Harrison.

The caterpillar (Plate 128, Fig. 3, from a photo by Mr. H. Main) is green, brownish green, or purplish brown; in the green form, which is minutely dotted with white, there is generally a faint purplish line along the back, two purplish k.n.o.bs on ring 8, and a purplish patch enclosing two ochreous spots on ring 11; the deeply notched head is ochreous, shaded with purplish; the last ring of the body is tinged with purplish, as also are the two small points thereon. It feeds, from July to September, on oak, birch, elm, beech, sallow, plum and other fruit trees; also on rose, bramble, etc. The moth is out in May and June, {303} sometimes in July. The species is generally distributed, and sometimes common in the caterpillar state, but seems to be absent from the Scottish Isles.

WAVED UMBER (_Hemerophila_ (_Synopsia_) _abruptaria_).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 17.

WAVED UMBER AT REST.

(Photo by W. J. Lucas.)]

A male and a female specimen are figured on Plate 130. The males are usually darker than the females, but they vary in the amount of darker clouding and suffusion. Three forms of the species have been named as follows--ab. _brunneata_, Tutt, a modification of the female rather more strongly coloured than the darkest typical male. Ab. _fuscata_, Tutt, sooty brown, tending to blackish; both s.e.xes somewhat paler in central area of fore wings. Ab. _unicolor_, Tutt, similar to ab. _fuscata_, but without pale marking; the thorax is also darker. (Plate 134, Fig. 7, ab.

_fuscata_.) The eggs, furnished by Mr. Norman Riley, were verdigris green when laid, but on the third day changed to greyish.

In general colour the caterpillar is greyish brown sometimes tinged with green; pinkish brown blotches along the back, often united on the front and hind rings. In some cases the caterpillar is almost black, with a lighter mark on front of the first ring. It feeds on privet and lilac, and is said to eat currant, broom, and jasmine: May to August. (Plate 133, Fig. 3.)

The moth is out in April and May, and is fond of resting on palings, trees, and even walls. It appears to be most plentiful {304} in the London district, in the north and east of which the dark forms occur; but it is found more or less frequently over the greater part of England, and in South Wales; single specimens were taken at Hartlepool, Durham, in 1874 and 1875. One example has been recorded from Kincardineshire, Scotland; and one from Enniskillen, Ireland.

RINGED CARPET (_Boarmia cinctaria_).

Two specimens are shown on Plate 130. Fig. 3 represents the more or less typical form, and Fig. 4 depicts an example in which the central area is almost free of dark speckling, so that the whitish ground colour comes out distinctly. There is a good range of variation in the direction of both darker and paler forms than those figured. In some specimens with a clear white central area, the basal and outer marginal areas of the fore wings, and the outer area of the hind wings, are black or blackish; similar aberration is sometimes found in the more speckled specimens also.

Occasionally, there is a projection from below the middle of the second black line to the basal band.

The caterpillar is green, with darker green and whitish lines along the back and sides. It feeds on birch, sallow, and heath (_Erica cinerea_), and may be reared on knot-gra.s.s. The moth is out in May, sometimes late April or early June. The New Forest in Hampshire is the district _par excellence_ for this species, the most favoured locality being the heathy tract near Lyndhurst, where the moths are very common, in some years, on tree-trunks, especially birch, and on heather. Other localities in England are Poole Heath, Parley Heath, and Bloxworth in Dorset; Tilgate Forest, etc., in Suss.e.x; Reading district in Berks, first noted in 1891. In Ireland, it is widely distributed, and is abundant at Killarney and some other parts of Kerry.

The range abroad extends to Amurland and j.a.pan.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 130.

1, 2. WAVED UMBER.

3, 4. RINGED CARPET.