The moth flies in October and November, and as it lives through the winter is seen at sugar on any mild night, but it does not seem to turn up at the sallow catkins in the spring. The species is rather less generally distributed than the last, but it is not uncommon in the southern and eastern counties, and is found throughout England to the Tyne. Recorded from very few localities in Ireland, and apparently not noticed in Scotland.
A pair of typical specimens are represented on Plate11, Figs. 11 and 12. A form of the species occurring in Somersetshire has the fore wings reddish brown, and the usual black dots are largely absent (ab.unicolor, Tutt).
The caterpillar (Plate6, Fig. 2) is purplish brown freckled with blackish; there are three obscure paler lines along the back from ring 3, and a central series of black spots; the head is black, and the fine hairs of the body are yellowish brown. It feeds, in May and June, on apple, plum, dandelion, etc. The fact has been noted that, if supplied with apple until about half grown, and afterwards with dandelion, it attains full size more quickly than when kept to one kind of food only.
The moth appears in October and November, retires during the cold weather, and comes forth again in the spring. Whenreared in confinement, it emerges from the chrysalis about a month earlier. Ivy bloom, ripe yew berries, and also sugar attract it in the autumn, and in the spring it visits the blossoms of sallow, damson, and sloe. There are several records of its having been taken at light, perhaps the latest of these being that of a specimen captured at Exeter on April 11, 1906.
Except in Devonshire, where it is of more regular occurrence, the species is far from common in England, but is taken in, or has been recorded from, the counties of Dorset, Wilts, Gloucester, Hereford, Monmouth (S. Wales), Hants and Isle of Wight, Sussex, Surrey, Berks, Bucks, and Cambridge. In Ireland it is noted from Dublin, King's County, Kerry, Wicklow, and Galway.
It is represented in Japan by the larger ab.fornax, Butler.
An example of each sex of this species is shown on Plate12, together with a less common form. Although specimens vary in the amount of red in the colour of the fore wings, there is more striking aberration in the colour of the lunular marks representing the reniform stigma; these are frequently white, but may be yellow (typical), or reddish orange in either sex. The dull brownish specimen (Fig. 3) is from Yorkshire, and appears to be referable to var.brunnea, Lampa.
The caterpillar is dark brown, with indistinct paler lines on the back; the line along the spiracles is white or whitish, but often reduced to a series of spots on rings 1, 2, 5, and 11. Head, ochreous-brown, darker about the mouth. It feeds, in May and June, on the leaves of oak, beech, elm, and other trees, also on low plants; and has a keen appetite, it is said, for other caterpillars when the opportunity offers.
The moth is out in September, and may be seen at ivy bloom or sugar during that month, and also in October and Novemberif the weather is favourable; it is early on the wing again in the spring.
Although apparently uncommon in some few parts, the species seems to be generally distributed and plentiful throughout England, Wales, Scotland up to Ross (recorded from Stromma, Orkney), and Ireland.
In Japan, a greyish form with larger spots (ab.tripuncta, Butler) occurs.
An example of this species is represented on Plate12, Fig. 4. The black streak from above the middle of the inner margin towards the hind margin should be noted, as this character distinguishessemibrunneafrom dark forms of the following species—L. socia.
The caterpillar is yellowish green, with a broad creamy stripe along the middle of the back, and two indistinct fine lines on each side; below the black-outlined white spiracles is a yellow stripe. Head, bluish green, freckled with darker green. It feeds on ash in May and June.
The moth appears on the wing, and may be seen at ivy bloom and sugar, from September to November, and is sometimes captured at sallow, after hibernation, in March or April.
It is on record that two specimens taken in November were kept in confinement, and three other captives were added in February. All continued to live until June, and two were still alive on the 23rd of that month.
Although this species is found more or less regularly in most of the English counties south of Worcester on the west, and Huntingdon on the east, it is always very local, and never plentiful. It has been reported from Carmarthenshire in South Wales; and Kane states that in Ireland it has been taken in Galway and Kerry.
Plate 12
Plate 13
The pale ochreous-brown insect shown on Plate12, Fig. 5, is without the dark, sometimes blackish suffusion on the inner area which is characteristic of the type of this species. Var.rufescens, Tutt, is a reddish form.
The caterpillar is pale green with three white lines, the central one broad and stripe-like; the line along the spiracles is yellow. Head, pale green, variegated with white. (Adapted from Porritt.)
The moth comes to ivy bloom, sugar, etc., in September and October, and even later if the weather is mild. After hibernation it reappears as early as February, and visits the sallows as soon as the catkins open.
Although it seems to be absent from the eastern counties, except Cambridge—where, however, it is scarce—this species is found in most of the other counties mentioned for the last species. It is generally more plentiful, especially in the west. Occasionally specimens have been taken in Cumberland, and single examples have been recorded from the Liverpool and Hartlepool districts. It seems to be not uncommon in South Wales, and has been reported from Capel Curig, in Carnarvonshire. As regards Ireland, Kane says that there are few Irish localities where this species is not found.
The typical form of this species has the fore wings of a pale slaty grey colour; this, however, does not seem to occur in Britain. Our form, var.suffusa, Tutt (shown on Plate13, Figs. 1 and 2), is much darker grey with blackish mottling, a yellowish mark at the base and a reddish cloud in the reniform stigma; the outer area is more or less tinged with violet, and this tint sometimes spreads over the whole of the fore wings;the inner margin is tinged with reddish orange at the base, or along the basal half, and there are some clouds of the same colour on the black submarginal line. This isconformisof British authors.
The caterpillar (drawn from a skin, Plate8, Fig. 1) is olive brown, tinged with green above, and paler brown, tinged with pink beneath; the dots are yellowish in black circles, and there is a dark olive-brown mark on ring 1; there are three yellow lines along the back, the central one interrupted by darker brown freckles, clustered so as to form a series of diamond-shaped patches, and the others are edged above with dark olive. It feeds on alder, from April to June.
The moth is out in September and October, and, after hibernation, in March and April. Ivy bloom and sugar attract it in the autumn, and it has been taken at sallow catkins as well as at sugar in the spring.
Since 1861, when its occurrence in Wales was first announced, it has been found more or less regularly in Glamorganshire, South Wales, or the adjoining English county of Monmouth. The latest record is that by Mr. P. J. Barraud, who took a male specimen at sallow bloom in the Wye Valley on March 31, 1907. The capture of a specimen at sugar, near Brighton, September 13, 1898, has been reported. One specimen has been recorded from Yorks., another from Westmoreland; and in 1902, two from near Lancaster. Wales, however, appears to be the home of this species in the British Isles.
The example of this species shown on Plate13, Fig. 3, is of the typical form, and hails from the Continent. Of the six specimens observed in England the majority have been recorded aszinckenii, Treitschke, a form having the fore wings more variegated with white. Another form, ab.somniculosa, Hering,has most of the typical markings, especially on the outer area, absent.
The earliest occurrence of this species in Britain appears to have been that of a specimen on the trunk of a poplar tree in the northern environs of London, October, 1865. Then on September 30, 1866, one was detected on the bole of a willow tree in a locality not indicated more definitely than "near New Cross"; another specimen was taken in the same year in the Guildford district, at sugar. On October 3, 1870, a fourth was found on the reverse side of a tree that had been sugared, at Dartford, Kent; and a specimen, labelled Erith, September, 1875, was in the collection of the late Mr. Bond. Lastly, a specimen came to sugar at Copdock, Ipswich, in late September, 1895.
The range of this species abroad extends through Scandinavia, Belgium, North Germany, and North Russia, to East Siberia, and Amurland. It is found in North America, where it is known asthaxteri, Grote.
The moth, of which a portrait will be found on Plate12, Fig. 6, emerges from the chrysalis in the autumn, and may then be found at night on ivy bloom or at the sugar patch; and in the daytime it may frequently be seen on tree trunks, palings, etc. After hibernation, it is again seen in the spring, on fences, pales, etc., and visits the sallow catkins at night. Females of this species, and other hibernating kinds, taken in the spring generally deposit fertile eggs pretty freely; often such specimens are not in the best condition, but one female, if she has not already parted with most of her eggs, will as a rule deposit quite as many as the collector is likely to need.
The caterpillar is of a blue-green colour with whitish freckles;three broken whitish lines along the back; head, green, with a paler mark on each cheek. It is to be found in May and early June on the leaves of oak.
The species is widely distributed throughout England and Wales, but is more frequently met with in the south than in the north. It is found in Scotland, but only rarely, and the same remark applies to Ireland generally, although the species is not uncommon in some parts of Wicklow, Cork, and Kerry.
Its range abroad extends to Amurland and Japan.
On Plate12, Fig. 8 represents a Lancashire specimen, whilst Fig. 9 is taken from an Aberdeen example. The first, having the central area suffused with brown, is more nearly typical, and the other varies in the direction of ab.virgata, Tutt, in which form the central shade is black. Other named forms are—ab.cinerascens, Staud. =pallida, Tutt (pale ashy-grey, central shade almost or quite obsolete), ab.suffusa, Tutt (similar tovirgata, but the basal area also black or blackish).
The caterpillar is brown, with a purplish or violet tinge, and freckled with grey; an indistinct line along the middle of the back and a creamy stripe along the sides, the latter is edged above with black; head, shining reddish-brown, freckled with darker brown. It feeds on bilberry, bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), heather, sallow, birch, and hawthorn, and is to be found from May to July.
The moth is out in August and September, and in its woodland and moorland haunts is to be seen sitting about on the dead stems of bracken, charred twigs and stems of heather, or on birch trunks, rocks, walls, etc. When thus resting, however, they very closely resemble twisted birch bark, grouse droppings, and other common objects occurring in the haunts of the species, so that its detection is not easy at first.
In England this species is found from Shropshire and Staffordshire northwards to Cumberland; thence through Scotland to Aberdeen and Sutherland. In Wales it has been obtained commonly near Rhos in the north.
Abroad its range spreads to Amurland; and it occurs in North America, where it is known asgermana, Morrison.
A typical specimen of this widely distributed and, at least in the southern half of England, rather common species, is shown on Plate12, Fig. 7. A dark form has been named ab.suffusa, Tutt, and one with the fore wings of the typical grey colour, but with a pinkish flush, is ab.rosea, Tutt.
The caterpillar (figured from a skin, on Plate8, Fig. 2) is yellowish-brown, with a fine pale central line along the back, often only distinct on rings 1, 11, and 12, and always obscured by dark brown patches on 7 and 8; a blackish line low down along the sides. The body tapers towards each end, and especially so towards the small head. It lives upon honey-suckle, and feeds on the leaves at night, during May and June, or sometimes later.
Fig. 1.Fig. 1.Early Grey at rest.(Photo by W. J. Lucas.)
Fig. 1.
Early Grey at rest.
(Photo by W. J. Lucas.)
The moth appears in March and April, and, in the daytime, is often met with at rest on posts, fences, and the trunks of trees; also upon stone walls, but seemingly less frequently, probably owing to the moth being then less easy to detect. At night it flies around sallow bushes and sometimes settles on the catkins, but is always on the alert.
Except that the pale grey brown fore wings are more clouded with blackish in some specimens than in others, there is little of importance to note. Usually there are two black wedges pointing inwards from the indistinct submarginal line, but occasionally one, or more rarely both, may be absent. (Plate14, Figs. 3 ♂ and 4 ♀.)
The caterpillar is green, with two series of white spotted black marks, the line below these is yellow, and that lower down on the side is bright red; the spots between the lines are white, encircled with black. From April to May it feeds, often in the sunshine, as well as at night, on restharrow, thistles, stonecrop, groundsel, dock, in fact on almost all low-growing plants, as well as the foliage of some trees. The caterpillars of this and the next species are exceedingly pretty creatures, and are sure to attract attention whenever met with. Dr. Chapman notes that the caterpillar will feed on stale leaves.
The moth emerges in the autumn, and seems to be on the wing until quite late in the year, and is seen again as early as March, and thence on until May. One male and two females captured at sugar, March 12 and 13, were placed in a glass cylinder with various food plants, and a sprig of sallow catkins, moistened occasionally with syrup, afforded nourishment for the moths every evening. On April 13, two batches of eggs were noted on nettle, but these were not fertile. On April 15 and 20 pairing took place; and by May 3 over three thousand eggs had been deposited. On May 13 the two females, being still alive, were set at liberty (Goodwin).
Although it certainly appears to be less frequently seen in the south than northwards, the species is known to occur pretty well all over England and Wales. In Scotland, where it is generally commoner than in England, except perhaps in thenorthern counties of the latter, its range extends to the Orkneys.
Abroad, it is found throughout Europe (except the most northern parts); Asia to Japan; and the Canaries.
In this species the ground colour of the fore wings varies from whity brown to ochreous brown with a slight reddish tinge. A greyish shade spreads from the base along the median vein to below the reniform stigma in the paler and more typical specimens; the inner area is dark brown, but widely broken below the reniform by the grey suffusion. The specimens figured on Plate14(Figs. 1 ♂, 2 ♀) are from Sligo, Ireland, and are referable to var.brunnea, Tutt. The inner area in this form is red-brown, or inclining to blackish brown.
The caterpillar is green, with three yellow lines along the back, and a reddish orange stripe along the area of the spiracles; a series of black-circled white dots on each side of the central line; in the form figured (from a skin) on Plate8, Fig. 3, the lines on the back are white, and the spaces between them black, dotted with white; the stripe along the reddish spiracles also white, edged above with black; head, shining light reddish brown. It feeds, from May to July, on various low herbage, such as dock, persicaria, knotgrass, etc., also sedges and yellow flag.
The moth appears in September and October, and again in March and April, but seems to have been noted at various times both earlier and later. Mathew records that a female captured at sugar on June 11, deposited 36 eggs during the following week. These were laid in a chip box, and the caterpillars hatched out on June 24, fed up quickly on knotgrass, attained full growth by July 24, and pupated about that date.One moth emerged September 29, and five others, including three cripples, later.
This species is most frequent in Ireland and Scotland, being distributed throughout the latter country to Orkney and Shetland. It has been noted from almost every part of England, but does not seem to be plentiful generally in the country.
The distribution abroad ranges to East Siberia and to North America.
Two specimens, representing both sexes, of this species are shown on Plate15, Figs. 1 ♂, 2 ♀. Sometimes the darker colour on the marginal areas, especially the inner, inclines to blackish; while in some specimens the whole of the fore wings is suffused with brownish.
The caterpillar is white with a greenish tinge, each ring of the body is banded with yellow, has four black spots on the back, and some black dots and lines on the sides; the head is yellowish, dotted with black. It may be found in June and July quite exposed on mullein (Verbascum thapsus, andV. pulverulentum); also figwort (Scrophularia nodosa, andS. aquatica). Barrett states that it has been noted onBuddlæa globosa, an American plant sometimes grown in gardens. These caterpillars are certainly attacked by parasitical flies, but do not seem to be quite so frequently "stung" as those of some other species of the "Sharks." The caterpillar figured on Plate18, Fig. 1, was obtained at Box Hill by Mr. Norman Riley.
The moth is out in late April and in May, and, except an occasional capture at light, is rarely seen in the open. The caterpillars are probably obtainable in most English and Welsh counties, especially the southern ones of both countries, wherever there is an abundance of its food plants. Except that McArthur found the species in the Isle of Lewis, in 1901, there is no record from Scotland. In Ireland it has been recorded from Dublin by Birchall; and in 1901 three moths were taken at Timoleague, Co. Cork, and caterpillars later on were plentiful in the district.
Plate 14
Plate 15
A good deal of confusion exists both in Britain and on the Continent as to the identity of theCuculliafigured and described by Capieux in 1789, and by most authors since that time. I have received over twenty specimens from Austria, Germany, and other parts of Europe, sent to me asscrophulariæ. As I have been unable to separate the majority of these specimens fromC. lychnitis, and the others fromC. verbasci, Mr. F. N. Pierce has been good enough to examine the genitalia of six of the males, and of these he reports four areC. lychnitis, and two areC. verbasci.
In England we certainly have aCuculliasometimes appearing in the moth state rather later thanC. verbasciand always earlier thanC. lychnitis;the caterpillar producing it feeds onScrophularia nodosain July. It is, however, very local, and is found chiefly in North Kent, and occasionally in the Eastern Counties. Mr. Pierce finds that the male genitalia of a North Kentscrophulariæsent to him do not differ from these parts inC. verbasci, but Dr. Chapman informs me that he detects a slight difference in one that he examined.
It must be admitted that the identity of the North Kent and East AnglianCuculliawith thescrophulariæof Capieux is very doubtful, but we evidently shall not be greatly opposed to Continental methods if we continue to allow April and May moths resulting from Scrophularia nodosa caterpillars to do duty forC. scrophulariæ. I have therefore figured as this species a specimen that was reared, with others, in April and May, 1877, from larvæ obtained in the Dartford marshes. (Plate15, Fig. 3.)
The caterpillar is of a whitish-grey colour; along the middle of the back is a series of broad deep yellow triangles pointing backwards, each edged on both sides by large confluent deep black spots, usually forming a somewhat C-shaped marking, which encloses another yellow spot, and below is followed by several black spots; behind all these, on each segment, is a deep green transverse spotless band. The forms of the black markings, composed of united spots, vary in the degree of union of these spots; each anterior spot is confluent with the posterior one below it, but does not unite transversely with the others; in one variety they resemble tadpole forms united by the tails, in another these tails are as thick as the spots and form blotched curves; and in still another they are so thick and confluent as to include some of the side spots, thus completely edging two sides of the yellow triangle with a blotched black border. (Adapted from Buckler.)
An example of each sex of this species is shown on Plate15, Figs. 4 and 5. The general colour of the fore wings is paler, and the streaks along the front and inner margins are darker than inC. verbasci; and the outer margins of the wings are less jagged.
The caterpillar (figured on Plate18, Fig. 2, from a photo by Mr. H. Main) is greenish white or yellow; the rings are cross banded with yellow and spotted with black; usually the spots are united as in the figure, sometimes they are smaller and well separated, and occasionally all but those low down along the sides are absent. Coupled with decrease in size and number of the black spots, there is variation in the width of the yellow bands.Verbascum nigrumis the more usual food plant in Britain, but it will also eatV. lychnitis. It feeds, in July and August, on the flowers and unripe seed capsules in preference to the foliage.
Between sixty and seventy years ago, the late Mr. Samuel Stevens obtained the caterpillars on mullein growing in a chalk pit at Arundel in Sussex, and this seems to be the earliest notice of the species occurring in Britain. It is now known also to inhabit Hampshire, Surrey, and Oxfordshire; has been reported from Norfolk, Suffolk, and Gloucestershire.
The silvery-grey fore wings of this moth (Plate15, Fig. 6) are broadly suffused with reddish brown along the front margin, and more narrowly with purplish brown inclining to blackish along the inner margin; the latter is separated from a purplish brown blotch at the outer angle by a whitish edged black curved mark.
The caterpillar (figured on Plate18, Fig. 3, from a photo by Mr. Main) is green with a black-edged yellow stripe along the back, and another along the white spiracles; between these stripes are two pale greenish lines; head, green, sprinkled with blackish. In another form the body is suffused with reddish, inclining to purplish on the back; yellow markings pretty much as in the green form. It feeds chiefly on golden-rod (Solidago virgaurea) and sea star-wort (Aster tripolium), showing a decided preference for the flowers, but will eat the foliage of the plants mentioned. In confinement it can be reared on garden asters and Michaelmas daisy. It may be obtained on its food plants from July well into September.
The moth emerges in June and July as a rule, sometimes in early August, but has been known to come from the chrysalis during September up to the 23rd of that month. The species is found often abundantly in the caterpillar state in the seaboard counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent, Sussex, Hants, and Dorset. In Surrey it has occurred at Haslemere, and inthe Croydon district (?); and it has been recorded from Herefordshire and North Lancashire.
The range abroad extends to East Siberia, Amurland, and Japan.
On the fore wings of this greyish species (Plate16, Figs. 5 ♂ and 6 ♀) there is some variation in the short black streaks on the basal and outer areas, and in the dots around the stigma; the front margin is sometimes brownish tinged. The hind wings of the female are always darker than those of the male.
The caterpillar feeds on plants of the sowthistle (Sonchus) kind, also on garden lettuce and the wild species. It may be found in August and early September, but, as it feeds only at night, it should be searched for in the daytime on the undersides of the lower leaves. In general colour it is ochreous inclining to greyish, with an intricate raised pattern in blackish on the upper surface; the head is black, and there is a yellow spotted sooty brown plate on the first ring of the body.
The moth is to be seen in June and July, sitting on the upper parts of palings, and other kinds of wooden fencing; also on tent pegs, etc.; but it is not easy to detect even when its whereabouts is indicated. At night it visits flowers of campion, sweet william, honeysuckle, etc.
Widely distributed throughout the British Isles to the Orkneys, but seemingly more plentiful and regular in occurrence in the south of England than in the north.
Although somewhat similar to the last species, this moth may be distinguished by the more brownish tinge of its grey fore wings. The hind wings are also brown-grey in both sexes, but darkest in the female.
Sometimes the central area of the fore wings is clouded with blackish from the front to the inner margin; such specimens are referable to ab.chrysanthemi, Hübn. (Plate16, Figs. 1 typical, 2 ab.)
The caterpillar, which may be found in the summer months, is greenish white with zigzag olive markings, the lines on the back meeting in the middle of each ring, where there is a small pinkish blotch; head, pale yellowish, striped with brown on the face. It feeds on wild chamomile (Matricaria), stinking mayweed (Anthemis), andPyrethrum(Plate18, Fig. 1). The Rev. Miles Moss, writing his experience of this species at Rossall, near Fleetwood, Lancashire, notes that until half-grown the caterpillars live exposed, and are then found lying in a half-circle on the crowns of unexpanded flower heads. At this time they are green with dark and also white markings. He adds that caterpillars measuring about an inch in length when collected, were preparing for pupation a week later.
The moth is out in April and May, and has been captured even in July. When chrysalids are kept indoors, but not dry, the moths sometimes emerge in March, and occasionally in the earlier months of the year. A habit more or less general among the species of this genus is to remain in the chrysalis state for two or more winters; the present species has been known to emerge during March of the first, second, and third years following that in which the caterpillars were found.
Widely distributed over England and Wales, but apparently most frequent in the seaboard counties. In Scotland it occurs up to Perthshire, and it is found on various parts of the Irish coast.
Portraits of two specimens of this very local species, kindly lent by Mr. R. Adkin, will be found on Plate13, Figs. 4 and 5.The general coloration is usually silvery grey, but occasionally it inclines to yellowish. The moth has rarely been noted by day, and only one specimen seems to have been captured on the wing. Even caterpillars are by no means common in their best-known localities, and of those obtained after much labour a large proportion may frequently prove to have been the victims of parasitic flies.
The caterpillar is green, inclining to olive green, thickly freckled with pale yellow atoms; a purplish-brown stripe along the middle of the back and two faint purplish lines along the sides; a pale yellow line along the region of the black-edged spiracles, which are set in purplish-brown blotches. (Adapted from Buckler.)
Its food plant is golden-rod (Solidago) and it feeds at night and hides by day, low down on the stems or under the leaves: July to September. In confinement the caterpillars will eat garden aster and Michaelmas daisy.
The British haunts of the species are chiefly in Kent (Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells, etc.), and Sussex (Tilgate Forest, etc.); but according to Barrett it is also known from Hampshire, Surrey, and Essex. Abroad, the range extends through Central Europe to Southern Scandinavia, Livonia, Southern Russia, the Altai Mountains, Italy, and Armenia; but the species is nowhere plentiful.
It may be mentioned here that a very closely allied, and on the Continent common, species—C. xeranthemi, Boisduval—might easily be mistaken forC. gnaphalii.
This moth is shown on Plate16, Fig. 4. The fore wings are usually tinged with purplish over the greyish ground colour; black dots on the stigmata give to each of these marks some resemblance to the figure 8.
The caterpillar, which feeds on the flowers and seeds of wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) and will eat mugwort (A. vulgaris), is best found on sunny days. It is yellowish green, suffused with purplish grey on the back of each ring; there are three pale green lines along the back, and an ochreous grey plate on ring 1. To be found in August and early September, but on dull days it must be sought for among the lower leaves, or on the ground. When resting among the flowers it so closely harmonises with them that it might easily escape detection.
The moth is out in July.
The species is perhaps most abundant on the South Devonshire coast, but its range extends into Cornwall, and eastward to the Isle of Portland and the Isle of Wight; it is not uncommon along the coasts of North Devon (Lee and Croyde), Somerset (Minehead), and South Wales. It has also been recorded from North Wales, and from parts of the Suffolk coast. In Ireland, a specimen was taken in a garden at Cromlyn, Westmeath, in 1873, and more recently two specimens of the moth, and also some caterpillars, were obtained at Timoleague, Cork.
This species, of which a Continental example is represented on Plate16, Fig. 3, is apparently exceedingly rare in this country, and most probably is not a native.
In the collection of the late Dr. Mason, which was dispersed at Stevens' in 1905, there were three specimens, each of which had seemingly been included among series ofC. absinthiipurchased at three separate sales. A fourth specimen, also mixed withC. absinthii, was in the collection of the late Rev. H. Burney. Two other specimens have been reported from Devonshire, where, it is said, they were found sitting on a fence.
The caterpillar feeds, in August and September, on wormwood and other kinds ofArtemisia. It is green with red raised spots, a white line along the middle of the back, and a yellow stripe low down along the sides; head, brown inclining to blackish above. The moth is out in June and July.
In its typical form (Plate17, Figs. 1, 2) this species has the fore wings purplish brown or blackish brown, whilst in var.rufescens, Tutt, the general colour of the fore wings is reddish inclining to crimson, and the white markings are clearly defined. In some dark specimens the markings are more or less obscure, and in others only the central white dot is distinct.
The caterpillar is green, dotted and marked with white; there are three rows of yellowish bars along the back, those forming the outer series slightly curved. It is to be found on ling (Calluna vulgaris), also on heath (Erica), from July to October, but it seems to be more frequently obtained in early autumn. Occasionally it has been found in the spring. Hawthorn has been mentioned as a food-plant (Plate20, Fig. 1).
The moth has been taken in each month from April to August, but it is perhaps most plentiful from May to July. The species occurs on heath and moorlands throughout the British Isles, but so far it has not been recorded from the Shetlands. It flies on sunny days and is very active on the wing, but when the sun is obscured, or towards evening, it may be found at rest on the heather sprays, usually at their tips.
The pretty moth represented on Plate17, Fig. 7, is only found in the British Isles, on the mountains of Scotland, chiefly in Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. Sometimes the basal area of the fore wings is suffused with black, and to a lesser extent the outer area also (var.æthiops, Hoffm. =suffusa, Tutt); on the other hand, typical examples have both basal and outer areas silvery grey, and the central area black. A form, which I have not seen, is described as having the black central area broken by an ashy cross band passing between the stigmata (var.variegata, Tutt).
Plate 16
Plate 17
The caterpillar is reddish brown, with three white lines along the back, and a reddish-freckled ochreous stripe low down on the sides. Sometimes the general colour is blackish. It feeds on bearberry (Arctostaphylos) in June and July; also said to eatVaccinium uliginosum; in confinement it will thrive onArbutus unedo, commonly known as the "strawberry tree."
The moth is out in May, when it flies in the sunshine, and in dull weather sits about on the rocks, stones, lichen, etc. Mr. Cockayne notes that at Rannoch he met with it from May 17 in numbers, but always in isolated spots where bearberry was plentiful. Here the moths were either feeding on the flowers or settled on the ground. He further remarks that this species occurs at the comparatively low elevation of 800 to 900 feet, whereas the next species ascends to 2000 feet.
The distribution abroad extends to Amurland and Labrador.
This species has the ground colour of the fore wings greyish in the type and brownish in var.wiströmi, Lampa. Specimens with the fore wings more or less typical, but with the normally white area of hind wings dark greyish, are referable to ab.rupestralis.I remember seeing a specimen of the last-named form in the collection of the late Mr. S. Stevens, but I believe that it is very rare in the British Isles. In all forms there is variation in the stigmata, and in the orbicular especially. (Plate17, Figs. 5 ♂ and 6 ♀.)
The caterpillar is of a purplish pink colour, with a black-edged ochreous-brown line along the middle of the back, broken up by reddish-brown triangles; the stripe along the region of the black spiracles is yellowish white flecked with red; the sides of the body above the stripe are flecked with reddish, and above them is a yellowish-white line and some black marks. Head, brownish, freckled with darker. It feeds at night, in July, on bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), cowberry (V. vitis-idæa), and can also be reared on strawberry tree, sallow, knotgrass, etc. In the daytime it must be searched for under the leaves.
The moth is out in May and the early part of June, and is most active in the sunshine, but flies on dull days when the weather is warm. It seems confined to the higher level of the mountains, and its habits are similar to those of the last species, but its range extends to the Shetland Isles. The species was not recognised as British until about 1830, and the same remark applies toA. cordigera.
The fore wings are a little more reddish in some specimens than in others, and occasionally the yellow of the hind wings is much reduced in area by the expansion of the black border, or it may be suffused with blackish. (Plate17, Figs. 3 and 4.)
The caterpillar is green, with three lines along the back, the central one dark green and the others whitish, bordered below with dark green; the stripe low down along the sides is yellowish white, edged above with dark green. It feeds, in June and July, on mouse-ear chickweed (Cerastium), devouring the blossom and seeds, when young boring into the unripe capsule.
The moth flies on sunny days in May and early June, and is more or less common in grass-bordered lanes, hay meadows, etc., in most counties throughout the southern part of England.In the midland counties it appears to be far more local, thence to Durham (its northern limit in England) it is generally scarce. It has been recorded from Pembrokeshire and Flintshire, in Wales. A specimen has been reported from Robroyston, near Glasgow, in Scotland. As the species has been obtained in Kerry and Sligo, the probability is that it occurs in other parts of Ireland.
The beautifully tinted moth represented by Figs. 8 and 9 on Plate17was known as British to Haworth (1802), but it had been figured by Wilkes in 1773, and by Moses Harris in 1775. In 1829 Stephens remarked that there were then but few native specimens in British cabinets, among which were examples from the Windsor district "caught about fifteen years since, in June." He adds, the interest and value of these, and older specimens, was lessened by "the execrable practice of introducing Continental insects into collections." Stainton (1857) refers to the Windsor specimens only, and Newman (1869) ignores the species altogether. In 1902 two specimens were presented to the British Museum by Mr. J. F. Bennett, and are now in the National Collection of British Lepidoptera. These were obtained at Brighton in 1876 by the donor's father, but whether captured or reared is not known.
The fore wings of this species (Plate17, Figs. 10, 11) in its typical form are yellow inclining to orange, with the outer area more or less tinted with purplish. In a paler form, ab.marginata, Fab., the fore wings are without the orange tint, and the outer area is rather greyish brown.
The caterpillar (Plate20, Fig. 4) is grey or greenish, speckled with white, and with raised black dots; there are three lines along the back, the central one white edged, broader and darker than the outer ones, which are sometimes white; a white-edged pale yellow stripe low down along the sides. In some examples the general colour is pinkish brown.
It feeds on restharrow (Ononis) in July and August, but can be reared on knotgrass, and has been known to thrive on the green pods of the scarlet runner bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). The moth flies at dusk in June, sometimes earlier or later. It visits the flowers of various plants, especially those ofSileneandLychnis; also comes to the sugar patch and may be attracted by light. Although not generally common, it seems to be widely distributed over England and Wales, but is most frequent in the seaboard counties, and this is more particularly the case in the north. In Scotland it appears to occur from Berwick northwards to Moray, and in Ireland it has been noted from several of the littoral counties, chiefly southern, but also from Sligo.
The range abroad extends to the North-west Himalayas, Amurland, Corea, and Japan; the species also occurs in North America from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains.
The ground colour of this species (Plate19, Figs. 1, 2) ranges from yellowish to ochreous with a greyish, or olive, tinge; the central band including the reniform stigma is olive, or reddish brown, terminating on the inner margin in a cloud extending towards the hind margin; submarginal line preceded by a shade-like band similar in colour to the central one, but often only well defined on costal and inner margins; the whitish area of the hind wings is sometimes much reduced. The darker specimens are typical of the species, whilst those with the paler ground colour and brighter cross bands are referable to var.maritima, Grasl.
Plate 18
Plate 19
The caterpillar varies in colour, green of various shades, pinkish, or purplish brown; three lines along the back, the central one with dark edges, and the outer ones whitish, with dark lower edge; the line low down along the sides is often whitish; but this, and also the other white lines, may be replaced by greenish or yellowish. It feeds on various low-growing plants such as restharrow, scabious, toadflax, white campion, bladder campion, clover, etc., preferring the flowers and seeds. It has been found from July to September. Sometimes it has been reared on the pods of the scarlet-runner bean.
The moth, which is out in June and July, dashes about rapidly in the daytime, and as it is partial to the flowers of the bugloss, or those of clover, etc., it may be netted when feasting on the blossoms. It occurs in meadows, on heaths, and on sandhills by the sea, in most of the southern and eastern counties of England, but is only rarely seen northwards, and has not been recorded from other parts of the British Isles.
Distribution abroad: the whole Palæarctic region less the extreme north; also represented in North America byphlogophagus, Grote and Robinson.
The very distinct-looking moth shown on Plate19, Fig. 3, is exceedingly rare in Britain, only about eleven specimens being authenticated. The earliest-known British specimen was captured in a locality near Dalston, in Cumberland, July, 1835. The next record is of three examples near Skinburnness, also in Cumberland. Then, in 1875, one occurred in Norfolk, at the Cromer lighthouse, and this was followed by another in 1876. In 1877 one was captured as it flew over clover at Weston-super-Mare. On September 19, 1878, a specimen was netted atthe flowers of ragwort on the shore of Lough Swilly, near Buncrana, Ireland, and one is recorded as taken near Aberdeen, Scotland, in July of that year. The late Dr. Mason had a specimen said to have been taken at Attleborough, in Norfolk, June, 1880. The latest recorded capture is that of a specimen taken by Mr. F. Capel Hanbury in a clover field near Dartmouth, South Devon, September 4, 1900.
The range abroad extends through Central and Southern Europe eastward to North India, North China; and southwards to North-west Africa. It occurs also in the Western United States of America.
Two examples of this species are shown on Plate19, Figs. 4, 5. The fore wings are pale ochreous brown, with a more or less reddish tinge; the cross lines are not always distinct, but there is generally a dark dot on the costal end of the first line, and a large olive-brown spot between the second and submarginal lines; following the submarginal line is a pale band of variable width, but always with a black dot (sometimes double) towards its lower end. Very pale specimens are referable to ab.pallida, Cockerell.
The caterpillar (Plate20, Fig. 3, figured from a coloured drawing by Mr. A. Sich) is green, with three darker green or reddish stripes along the back; the stripe along the area of the spiracles is dark green, edged below with white, but when the other stripes are reddish this is also marked with that colour. Several other forms have been described, and the caterpillar seems to be a most variable one. It feeds, from June to August, and again in September and October, on many kinds of low-growing herbage, such as restharrow (Ononis), clover (Trifolium),Matricaria inodora, etc.; also on furze or gorse (Ulex), and thorn apple (Datura). The blossoms and unripeseeds are preferred in almost all cases, and flowers of the garden marigold will be found useful when these caterpillars are reared in confinement.
From eggs deposited by a female moth taken at Deal in the evening of June 17, 1904, the caterpillars hatched out in due course, fed up on wild convolvulus, pupated at the end of July, and the moths emerged during the last week of August and the first week of September. In another case, moths were developed in about forty-seven days from eggs laid in mid-July. In 1907 six caterpillars were found in South Devon during the second week in August, and one of these attained the moth state on September 3. Previous to 1906, which was a notable one for the species, the moth seems not to have been observed earlier than June, but in the year mentioned several were taken at the flowers of valerian during May, at Torquay. Caterpillars were plentiful on restharrow in the same district during June and July, and an example, presumably, of a second generation was captured at bramble blossom on August 11. In the same year and on the 15th of the month just noted, a specimen was reared from a caterpillar found onOnonis, July 18, and another specimen captured, August 24, as it flew in the sunshine on a slope of the South Downs. In Clarendon Wood, near Salisbury, Wilts, one example was taken at sugar, September 2, 1906. The species seems to be of fairly regular occurrence in Devonshire and Cornwall, but it has also been observed, more or less rarely, in many other English counties, chiefly those on the coast; in Pembrokeshire and Glamorganshire, South Wales; a few specimens have occurred in Co. Cork, and one in Co. Wicklow, Ireland. All that appears to be known of this species in Scotland is that one specimen has been recorded from Markton, Ayrshire.
Abroad, its distribution is extensive, ranging from Africa, the Canaries, and Madeira to Central and Southern Europe, and through Asia to India.
This species (Plate19, Figs. 6-8) has an almost universal distribution. It is found in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia. As regards the British Isles, it was first recorded by Mr. Edleston, who noted a specimen taken at Salford, Lancashire, by Mr. John Thomas, in September, 1840. This specimen, also one captured at Mickleham, Surrey, and others "taken in various localities," are referred to in theEntomologist's Annualfor 1855. The following year one was reported from Exeter and one from the Isle of Wight. The summer of 1859 was a hot one (as were the two previous summers), and the species was recorded from the following localities: Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Edmonton, Isle of Wight, Ramsgate, Torquay, Weston-super-Mare, Worthing, and other places. Apart from the captures on the Devonshire coast, chiefly at Torquay, where the moth seems to occur pretty nearly every year, the records since 1859 are: 1866 (Scarborough); 1871 (Wakefield); 1876 (Hartlepool, and Kentish Coast); 1877 and 1881 (Gloucester); 1890 (Chatham); 1895 (Tunbridge Wells); 1901 (Isle of Wight); 1902 (Chester and Harwich); 1903 (Lewes). In all cases only single specimens. The species has been noted once in South Wales, and twice in North Wales; several specimens were secured in 1898 near Berwick-on-Tweed, and odd specimens have been recorded from Ireland.
The caterpillar is variable in colour; in one form it is green with a yellowish stripe along the sides, and in another the colour is purplish brown. The form figured (Plate20, Fig. 2) is pinkish brown with a black-edged whitish line along the back, and a pinkish freckled and brownish edged yellowish stripe along the sides; the raised dots are white as a rule, but sometimes in the darker forms they are blackish. In some examples of the green form the dots and lines are black.
In 1869 two specimens of the moth were reared from caterpillars imported with tomatoes from Spain; twenty-three years later Mr. Arkle referred to the arrival here ofH. armigerain the larval state with consignments of tomatoes, from Valencia, landed at Liverpool in the months of June and July. The late Mr. Tugwell reared larvæ, from eggs deposited by a captured female moth, on scarlet geranium; and there is a record of the finding of caterpillars on such plants, in the autumn of 1876, in the Isle of Wight. Specimens of the moth found at large in Britain occur in the autumn.
In the United States of America, where it is known as the "Cotton Boll worm," "Corn-ear worm," and "Tomato fruit worm," this caterpillar is chiefly destructive to corn crops, as of the five generations stated to occur during the year in the States three occur in cornfields. It also attacks beans, tobacco, pumpkins, melons, oranges, garden flowering-plants, and many kinds of wild plants. The British nurserymen and farmers are perhaps to be congratulated on the fact that this moth is only an accidental visitor and not a native.
Only eight specimens of this species seem to have been noted in Britain, and all these are apparently referable to the summer form, var.albicollis, Fabricius. (Plate19, Fig. 9.) Stephens, who figured it assolaris, Wien Verz. (Haustellata iii., Plate 29, Fig. 3), states that the specimen was in Marsham's collection, but that nothing farther was known about it. He, however, mentions two other specimens "taken within the Metropolitan area about ten years ago [that would be 1820] and four others near Dover above six years ago." Dale fixes the date of Dover captures as June, 1825. On August 25, 1859, a specimen was taken in a clover field at Brighton.
The species has an extensive range abroad, being found in Southern Europe and North-west Africa to Madeira and the Canaries; also in Central Europe, through Western and Central Asia to North India and East Siberia.
The fore wings of this species (Plate19, Fig. 10) are sometimes finely powdered with white, but more often the outer marginal area is distinctly flecked with white. The conspicuous central spot is usually white, but occasionally it has a pinkish ochreous tinge; very rarely it is reduced to a narrow streak with a short spur from its outer edge. The white band on the hind wings is sometimes narrowed and contracted below the middle.
The eggs are shown on Plate23, Fig. 2. They were, when laid on June 17, whity brown marked with reddish brown.
The caterpillar is ochreous greyish inclining to reddish or brownish; three dark-edged stripes along the back, a dark-brown line along the black spiracles, with two finer wavy lines above it; lower down there is a broad stripe of reddish brown; head marked with four lines of black dots. It feeds, at night, during June, July, and August (later in some seasons), on the small bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), and although it will eat the leaves when nearly full grown it prefers the flowers and seeds in its infancy.
The moth appears in May and June, and a second generation in August and September. In the sunshine it is active on the wing, but in dull weather it hides under herbage, in clover fields, chalky slopes, and rough places where its food plant occurs.
The female will often lay her eggs in a chip-box when she is thus secured after capture; the caterpillars are not difficult to rear if flower buds of the bindweed can be obtained to start them upon.
Plate 20
Plate 21