The Moths of the British Isles Volume Ii Part 54

This species, often referred to as _Limacodes testudo_, and said to be the _avellana_ of Linnaeus, is an inhabitant of oak woods, and occurs in Hampshire, Suss.e.x, Kent, Ess.e.x, Suffolk, Oxfordshire, Bucks, Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire. A male and two females have been reported from Clonbrock, Co. Galway, Ireland.

THE TRIANGLE (_Heterogena asella_).

The fore wings of this little species (Plate 153, Figs. 4 [male] and 5 [female]) are of triangular shape; in the male, which s.e.x is smaller than the female, they are dark brown, sometimes almost blackish (ab. _nigra_, Tutt), and those of the female yellowish brown varying to ochreous yellow (ab. _flavescens_, Tutt). The hind wings of the male are blackish, and of the female clouded with blackish.

The curious woodlouse-shaped caterpillar is green, sometimes inclining to yellowish; the broad reddish band on the back broadens out before the middle, thus giving the idea of a rough cross, or, as sometimes described, a blunt spear head. It is found, by searching, in August and until October, on the foliage of beech and oak. Birch has also been mentioned as a food plant, and on the continent it is said to feed on poplar, lime, hazel, and hornbeam. Fig. 2 on Plate 149 is from a photo by Mr. H. Main.

Although the caterpillar constructs its gall-like coc.o.o.n on a leaf or in the fork of a twig in the autumn, it does not change to a chrysalis until late in spring, sometimes not until June. The moth is out in June and July and flies in the sunshine, chiefly in the afternoon, and might easily be confused with the Lechean Tortrix (_Ptycholoma lecheana_).

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 150.

1, 2. GOAT MOTH.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 151.

GOAT MOTH: _caterpillar, chrysalis and coc.o.o.n_.

{347} The species appears to be very local in England and confined to the south. Its chief haunts seem to be in Bucks, where it is not uncommon in beech woods at Marlow, and in Hampshire, especially parts of the New Forest. It has been found in Epping Forest, Ess.e.x; rarely in Abbot's Wood and Rewell Wood, Suss.e.x; also recorded from Bickleigh Vale and the Plym Valley, Devonshire.

The range abroad extends to Amurland.

COSSIDae.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 20.

GOAT MOTH AT REST.

(Photo by Hugh Main.)]

Of the eighty-six Palaearctic species referred to this family, by far the larger number are eastern, only about eight appear to be found in Europe, and but three of these occur in Britain.

Meyrick separates _Cossus cossus_ (_ligniperda_) from our other two species, adopts _Trypa.n.u.s_, Rambur, as the generic name, and removes it to the Tortricina as a family of that group under the name Trypanidae.

THE GOAT MOTH (_Cossus cossus_ (_ligniperda_)).

The English name of this species (Plate 150, Figs. 1 [male], 2 [female]) applies more especially to the caterpillar, as this creature gives off an odour which has been compared to that of the he-goat. In general colour the caterpillar is pinkish ochreous, {348} inclining to dark reddish on the back; the small head is black and glossy, and the mark on the first ring of the body is black. It feeds in the solid wood of various trees, especially elm, ash, and willow, but is three or four years in completing growth. When mature, it often leaves its burrow and wanders in search of a suitable place for pupation. When met with at such times it should be, if taken, placed in a roomy tin box with a good supply of sawdust or decayed wood, when it will make its coc.o.o.n, and appear as a moth in due course. The early stages are shown on Plate 151.

Caterpillars are more likely to come under the notice of the country rambler than are the moths; examples of the latter, however, may be seen occasionally, in June or July, resting on a tree-trunk, a fence, or a gate post; sometimes, although practically tongueless, the moth visits the sugar patch and either settles on the tree or flutters around.

The species seems to occur in all parts of the British Isles, except perhaps the extreme north of Scotland and the Hebrides.

Abroad, the range extends to Amurland and to North-west Africa.

THE LEOPARD MOTH (_Zeuzera pyrina_).

As will be seen from the portraits of this blue-black spotted white species on Plate 153, the male (Fig. 6) is smaller than the female (Fig. 7); it will be further noted that the antennae of the male are bi-pectinated on the basal half, and thread-like on the outer half; the antennae of the female are thread-like throughout.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 152.

1. LEOPARD MOTH: _caterpillar_.

2. ORANGE-TAILED CLEARWING: _caterpillar's burrow and exit hole; chrysalis skin_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 153.

1, 2. FESTOON.

3. REED LEOPARD.

4, 5. TRIANGLE.

6, 7. LEOPARD MOTH.

{349} The caterpillar (Plate 152, Fig. 1, from a coloured drawing by Mr. A.

Sich) is dull whitish, more or less tinged with yellow; the spots are black, and the head and plates on the first and last rings of the body are blackish brown. It feeds in branches and stems of trees and shrubs.

Hatching from the egg, say in the late summer of 1908, the caterpillar will not be full grown until May or June of 1910, or possibly 1911; forming a coc.o.o.n of silk and wood particles, it turns to a reddish brown chrysalis in the burrow, and near the bark of the stem or branch. The moth comes out in the summer, and is most often seen in the London district, where the female especially is not infrequently found on tree-trunks or on gra.s.s, etc., under trees. It visits light, and the electric arc lamps are very attractive to it.

The species occurs in the south and east of England, and through the north-west counties to Cheshire. It has been recorded from Cardiff, South Wales, and doubtfully from Ireland.

Abroad, the range extends to Corea and j.a.pan. In America it seems to be established in parts of the State of New York.

THE REED LEOPARD (_Phragmataecia castaneae_).

A male of this species (_Macrogaster arundinis_ of some authors) is shown on Plate 153, Fig. 3. The female is rather larger, with longer body, and the antennae are without pectinations.

The wrinkled and rather shining caterpillar is ochreous white with reddish-brown stripes along the back. It feeds low down on the stems of reed (_Phragmites communis_) and is full grown in the spring of the second year following that in which it left the egg in late summer. Thus, a caterpillar hatching in August, 1908, would be mature about May, 1910, pupate in that month, or the next, and the perfect insect would appear in June or July.

The moth flies at night, and may be attracted by a brilliant light. The earliest known British locality for the species was Holme Fen in Huntingdonshire (1841-1848). In 1850 it was found abundantly at Whittlesea Mere. Its haunts in the {350} present day are Wicken and Chippenham fens in Cambridgeshire, but specimens from these localities are somewhat smaller than the old Hunts examples. Barrett states that he put down some eggs of the species in Ranworth Fen, Norfolk, and that five years later two males were captured within a short distance of the spot where the eggs had been placed.

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

SESIIDae.

This family--the aegeriadae of some authors--has over one hundred Palaearctic species a.s.signed to it; these are distributed among five genera, two of which are not represented in Britain. Fourteen species are found in the British Isles, but to obtain fine specimens of most of them the mature caterpillars or the chrysalids will have to be collected and the moths reared. All species emerge from the chrysalis early in the forenoon, and then only under the influence of sunshine.

The caterpillars are somewhat maggot-like, and live in stems, branches, and roots of trees and shrubs; or in the crowns and roots of low-growing plants. The majority, possibly all, are nearly two years in arriving at full growth.

HORNET MOTH (_Trochilium apiformis_).

As indicated by the English name this moth, and also that next to be mentioned, are very like the hornet (_Vespa crabro_). On turning to Plate 154, Fig. 1, it will be seen that this species has a yellow head and patches of yellow on the shoulders; these characters at once separate it from _T. crabroniformis_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 154.

1. HORNET MOTH.

2. WELSH CLEARWING.

3. WHITE-BARRED CLEARWING.

4. CLEAR UNDERWING.

5, 6. CURRANT CLEARWING.