Richard South

“ The habit of the moth is to sit upon the foliage of bushes and the branches of trees, where it might easily be passed over for a fluffy white feather; occasionally it may be found on palings or even iron railings. About dark it is on the wing, and light has then a great attraction for it. The caterpillar is black with black and grey hairs; a vermillion stripe down the middle of the back has a black central line, and is expanded on rings four, eleven, and twelve; along each side there are tufts of snowy white fluffy scales ”

“ As the moth, except under stress of circumstances, places her eggs on the foliage of trees and bushes in selected positions, the business of egg laying takes about six nights to perform. Even when she is unable to fly she will crawl from twig to twig and glue an egg here and there on the leaves, but rarely more than two on a leaf. On a small sallow bush in my garden, I once counted eighty-four eggs on the lower leaves and the main stem. Green, inclining to yellowish or greyish, is the colour of the full-grown caterpillar. ”

“ The moths are out in April and May, and the males may be seen on sunny days flying at a great pace over heaths, moorlands, and mosses, also about the borders of woods. The female flies at night, but it may occasionally be met with resting on heather or other herbage in the daytime. A freshly emerged female moth will, as a rule, attract as many specimens of the opposite sex as one would care to take; all that one has to do is to take her in a box to some likely spot, and there await the coming of the males. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Its reddish-orange colour, marked with yellow patches, black spots, and blue crescents, gives it a charming appearance as it sits on a flower, or even on the ground, with wings fully expanded to the sunlight. When the wings are closed up, however, the butterfly seems to disappear, as the under side of the wings is quite sombre in colour. The only bright spot on the under side is the yellowish central area of the fore wing, and when the wings are held erect over the insect's back this is not seen, but only the tips of these wings, which are of the same dull colour as the hind wings. ”

“ All we have to do is to stand under the branches and look upwards and outwards, when the united leaves and the form of the caterpillar between them will be detected. Some, of course, will be high up and out of reach in the ordinary way, but there will be others more accessible. Then, at night, especially in the early spring, we may search, aided by the beam of an acetyline lamp, the plants and undergrowth in wood rides and clearings, borders of woods, and lanes, for caterpillars that are arousing from hibernation. ”

“ Only four species occur in our islands. Three of these have green fore wings and pale grey or whitish hind wings. The other species, Sarrothripa revayana, has the fore wings of various shades of grey, brown, or blackish; its boat-shaped cocoon is very like a small edition of that of Hylophila bicolorana, and, although the caterpillar is in some respects not very dissimilar to those of the green-winged species, the moth does not seem quite to be one of their set. ”

“ In orchards and gardens wherein are fruit trees one may have noticed that the trunks of the trees have broad bands around them. If these bands are examined, they will be seen to be covered with a sticky compound, which has been put there for the purpose of trapping the almost wingless females of the Winter Moth, as they crawl up the tree after emergence from the chrysalis. In spite of such devices, and other precautionary measures taken to safeguard the trees from attack, the foliage of apple, pear, etc., will not be quite free from the caterpillars of this species in their season. ”

“ In such localities as Wicken, for example, it flies at early dusk in hundreds all over the fen on favourable nights, but if there happens to be a breeze the moths will not leave their retreat among the herbage. Later on in the night, if on the wing, they readily assemble around a brightly burning lamp, and are satisfied to sit on the herbage illuminated by its rays. In Northern England it is known to be not uncommon in some districts of Yorkshire, and it probably occurs in other counties also. There appears to be only a single record each from Ireland and Scotland. ”

“ If by any chance a young caterpillar gets driven away from the egg-shell, death is certain to result, as I could never induce them to feed on portions of empty shells left by others; nor would they eat the leaves or the brown stipules of the beech, which it has been suggested they do eat. In no single instance did they eat other food in their first skin save and alone the one meal of their own egg-shells."
The caterpillars feed on beech, and also occasionally on birch, oak, hazel, and some fruit trees, and may be found from July to September. ”

“ The moth emerges in June or July, and is on the wing at night, when it may be sometimes netted as it flies along or over hedgerows. When caught in this way it dashes about so wildly in the net that it is rarely of much value for the collection. The same may be said of examples taken by light, which at times attracts the moths freely. When resting in the daytime, it very closely resembles a withered bramble-leaf or bunch of leaves. The fore wings are folded down, roof-like, over the hind wings, which are flattened out and their edges project beyond the margins of the fore wings. ”

“ The caterpillar is greenish with grey-edged yellowish lines along the back, and a black-edged yellow one along the sides. The ground colour is sometimes purplish brown. It feeds on broom chiefly, but will eat other Genisteæ. There appears to be two broods, one in June, and the other in September, or earlier sometimes. The moth is out in May and early June, and again in July and August, but it has been known to remain in the chrysalis for four years. It flies in the sunshine, and when resting, it sits like a butterfly, with its wings brought together over its back. ”

“ As the day draws to a close and the night advances, the moths awaken, and first one kind and then another rises on the wing. These, as they fly in the lanes, about the borders or along the rides of woods, and over the vegetation in meadow, fen, or moor, should furnish ample employment and keep the collector actively engaged until the time arrives for a first round of the trees upon which he has spread a dainty repast for the night-flying Noctuidæ, and those members of the Arctiidæ and Geometridæ, etc., that frequently look in where sweets are to be obtained. ”

“ The males of some species, as for example the Common Blue and the Orange-tip, differ from the females in colour; this is known as sexual dimorphism. The Silver-Washed Fritillary, which has two forms of the female, one brown like the male, the other green or greenish in colour, is a good example of dimorphism confined to one sex. Gynandrous specimens, sometimes called "Hermaphrodites," are those which exhibit both male and female coloration, or other wing characters; when one side is entirely male and the other side entirely female, the gynandromorphism would be described as complete. ”

“ As a general rule it is no doubt best to confine ourselves to one thing at a time, if the results are to be satisfactory and the work well done. In the present case, if he feels that way, the collector can relieve the monotony of trunk searching by operating in another direction at the same time. Some moths prefer to repose on the branches, or on the leaves of trees, others among the herbage under trees; these may be disturbed from their lurking places and caused to fall or take wing by jarring the boughs or brushing the undergrowth with a stick. ”

“ Referring to the caterpillar in Britain, Moses Harris, in 1775, wrote, "I never heard of but two that were ever found—one by Mr. South [or Smith] of Hampshire, which, he said, was green, and appeared in other respects so like the privet that he was deceived. He fed it on the leaves of the lesser bindweed. It changed into the chrysalis in the earth, in July, and the moth was produced in September" (Dale) .
The caterpillar figured by Harris is of the brown form, so we see that even at this early date something was known of the life history of this moth and the variation of the caterpillar. ”

“ When, however, the butterfly is ready to emerge, the shell of the chrysalis is split along the thorax and at the lower edge of the wing-cases, and the insect is then able to release itself from the pupal trappings. This breaking open of the chrysalis shell is termed dehiscence (dehisco, "to split open") , and the manner in which it is effected varies in different species. The emergence of a butterfly from the chrysalis is always an interesting operation to observe, and every one should make a point of watching the process, so that he may obtain practical knowledge of how the thing is done. ”

“ When at rest at night or on dull days it sits on a dead seed-head or grass glume, with the wings closed down over its back like a noctuid moth, and is then difficult to detect until the eye becomes accustomed to its appearance. It is widely distributed in Great Britain, but it is more at home on chalk and limestone than elsewhere. In such localities as the fens of Norfolk and Cambridge it is scarce, and seems to have a rather limited distribution in Ireland, in which country Galway is its headquarters, according to Kane. ”

“ There are many people, no doubt, who take an intelligent interest in the various forms of animal life, and yet do not care to collect specimens because, as in the case of butterflies for instance, the necessity arises for killing their captives. Such lovers of Nature are quite satisfied to know the names of the species, and to learn something of their life-histories and habits. [Pg vi] Still, however, there are others, and possibly a larger number, who will desire to capture a few specimens of each kind of butterfly for closer examination and study. ”

“ Rearing butterflies from the egg is much practised, and is a very excellent way. One not only obtains specimens in fine condition, but gains knowledge of the early stages at the same time. The eggs of most of the Whites, the Orange-tip, the Brimstone, and some others are not difficult to obtain, but searching the food-plants for the eggs of many of the butterflies is tiresome work, and not altogether remunerative. Females may be watched when engaged in egg-laying, and having marked the spot, step in when she has left and rob the "nest." ”

“ A butterfly can see things in a general way readily enough, but it seems unable to clearly distinguish one object from another. When engaged in egg-laying, the female butterfly rarely fails to place her eggs on a leaf or spray of the plant that the future caterpillar will feed upon, and it has been suggested that in making this unerring selection the insect is guided more by the sense of smell than by that of sight. ”

“ The young larva which in colour matches the buds very closely, rests on the bud-stalk with its anterior segments, which completely cover its head, pressed closely against the bud, and looks so exactly like a slight swelling of the upper part of the stalk as to make detection a matter of great difficulty, even with the aid of a fairly powerful lens. The larva is very sluggish in its habits, seldom leaving the head of the buds on which it is hatched, so long as sufficient food remains for its nourishment, or occasionally when about to change its skin. ”

“ The chrysalis is green, with the head, wing-cases, and sometimes the hinder parts of the body, tinged with buff; thorax brighter green, rather shiny; a darker line down the centre of the body.
The plants mentioned, and especially rest-harrow, are known to be the food of the caterpillar, but eggs have also been found, in Scotland, on red clover, plantain, burnet saxifrage, and yarrow. The caterpillars are to be found, after hibernation, in April, and a second brood in June and July. Those feeding on rest-harrow seem to prefer the blossom. ”

“ It is not a difficult species to rear from the egg, and as varieties appear to be most frequent in the third brood, the eggs should be obtained from females of the second brood. Dock and sorrel (Rumex) are the food-plants of the caterpillar, and these are most useful in a growing condition.
The butterfly frequents all kinds of open situations, and is fond of basking upon flowers, more particularly those of the Compositæ, from which vantage ground it dashes with great alertness at any other small butterfly that may happen to fly that way. ”