Richard South

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In a general way the fore wings of the male may be described as purplish grey, suffused with rosy or with tawny shades; a reddish cloud, black marked above, at the tips of the wings; the outer margins are more or less whitish, and there is a whitish patch about the middle of each wing, in which is an eyed spot; the hind wings are tawny, with a central eye spot and a blackish band towards the outer margin. The female has all the wings pale purplish grey, with whitish bordered outer margins; markings much as in the male, but the central area of the hindwings is more or less whitish. ”

“ Chrysalis, reddish brown, the surface minutely pitted, and spike pointed, and thickened at the base; in a brownish cocoon spun up between leaves. The moth emerges in June or July, and it comes freely to sugar, but like other members of this family is not always easy to box. It seems to occur in most places where poplar trees are well established; widely distributed over England, and found throughout Scotland even to the Shetland Isles. In Ireland it seems to be local and rare. Distribution abroad much as in the last species. ”

“ Blossoms of very many plants, both wild and cultivated, seem to receive its attention, but it is perhaps most partial to those of the jasmine where available. In the south of Europe the species is generally abundant throughout the year; but there would seem to be at least two distinct broods, one appearing in June, and the other in October. Possibly there may be an intermediate brood in August, as the period from egg to moth is known to be less than two months. In the British Isles, so far as one can gather from the records, caterpillars have only been found in July and August. ”

“ As a matter of fact the eyes of the entomologist should always be peering about, as a valuable prize may turn up in the most unexpected places. Hedgerows and bushes in lanes, or bordering fields and woods, afford harbour to many species of moths, and some kinds, not necessarily the commonest, may now and then be beaten from them freely. Herbage on hill or down sides, and on the moor and moorlands is also a favourite hiding-place, as too is the marram grass, etc., on the coast sandhills. ”

“ We must, therefore, in accordance with the law of priority, adopt the earliest name for the species, however much we regret having to discard the old familiar name of russula.
Although the central spot of the fore wings is subject to minor modification in size, shape, and colour, it is in the hind wings that variation chiefly occurs. In the male the blackish grey band on the outer area of the hind wing may be broad and complete, or it may be broken up by the veins into a series of bars ”

“ Compared with our butterflies, the number of moths found in the British Isles is very large. Like the butterflies, moths too are dependent upon plant life, and almost every kind of herb, bush, or tree, will be found to nourish the caterpillars of one or more species of moth. ”

“ The full-grown caterpillar is black with several star-like clusters of brown hairs on each ring, the hairs on the back of the hinder rings rather longer and slightly curved backwards; the head, legs, and claspers are red, approaching crimson. A diet of dandelion suits it very well, but it will also eat chickweed, dock, nettle, groundsel, and in fact almost any low-growing plant. The outer leaves of lettuce are useful on occasion but should not be given exclusively, and it also likes the tender shoots of gorse (Ulex europæus) . ”

“ The hind wings, generally pretty much of the same ground colour as the fore wings, have a dusky band-like shade of variable width on the outer third; sometimes these wings are entirely dusky, approaching blackish. Very rarely specimens are bred in which there is no trace of green colour. Such an example was reared by Mr. Frohawk in April, 1882, from a caterpillar he found in Surrey. In this aberration all the markings (normally green) are light burnt-sienna red, the usual whitish blotch at the tip of the fore wings is pink; ground colour also pink, slightly tinged with grey in places. ”

“ P. M. Bright captured a specimen in the Shetlands which Barrett considered referable to maillardi, Hübn. (Geyer, Fig. 833.) "Its ground colour is drab-brown, abundantly marked with umberous and dusted with black, and its only conspicuous marking is the reniform stigma, which is distinctly edged with white in such a manner as to give it a singular resemblance to Mamestra [Barathra] brassicæ." Staudinger, it may be added, adopts maillardi as the earlier name for this species, and it may have to be generally accepted. ”

“ The hairs of the caterpillar are mixed with the silk of the cocoon; the female lays her pale brownish eggs, which are minutely pitted and have a darker ring below the sunken top, on the outside of the cocoon, and there they remain through the winter.
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Generally distributed throughout the United Kingdom, but not so common in Ireland as in England and Scotland. It is quite a Cockney insect, and is found in almost every part of the Metropolis where there are a few trees. Occurs practically over the whole of Europe, and in North-east Asia Minor, Armenia, Siberia, Amurland, and North America. ”

“ In its very early life the head is rather triangular than rounded, as is the head of the young caterpillar of the previous species, and also that of the Eyed Hawk. Feeds on poplar, aspen, sallow, and willow, and may be found from July to September and sometimes October. Chrysalis blackish, rougher than that of the Lime Hawk. It lies in the ground so close to the surface that it is often exposed when the garden borders under or near poplars are raked over. The moth appears in May and June as a rule, but in backward seasons it may not emerge until July or even August. ”

“ It hides during the day and comes up to feed at night. The chrysalis, which is enclosed in an earthen cocoon below the surface of the ground, or sometimes among moss, is purplish black with the ring divisions reddish; the anal 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 Japan. ”

“ The sexual colour difference holds good generally, but there are exceptions and the male may sometimes be dark, like the female; or the latter sex may occasionally assume a reddish coloration. As a rule the reniform mark is most distinct in the female. A form occurring in Ireland with the fore wings dark sepia colour and the reniform mark clear whitish has been named var. perfusca, Kane. The caterpillar varies in the colour of the back through various shades of ochreous and brown to dark reddish brown, and this is always in strong contrast with the colour of the lower parts ”

“ The moth, which inhabits heaths and mosses, is on the wing in June and early July; the male may be put up on sunny days, but the female is not often seen until early evening. After dark both sexes may be found on the heather.
It should be noted here that there are usually two broods of this species abroad, and that in confinement it will develop a more or less complete second brood in September with us. An instance is recorded of sixty-three out of sixty-six caterpillars from eggs laid in early July, feeding up and producing moths in the last week of September. ”

“ As soon as they have eaten their way out of the shell they stretch themselves, and then from time to time nibble portions of the white chitinous-looking egg-shell, and a tough morsel it seems to be for them; but they never leave it for more than an inch or so, and then rapidly come back. They keep nervously moving around and about this, and if perchance another caterpillar should approach within touch of it, a vigorous attack is made to drive off the intruder. ”

“ Although many more localities are now known for the moth, it still continues to be rather a scarce species. It appears to inhabit woods on a chalky soil almost exclusively, and is found less uncommonly in the woods of Buckinghamshire than in its other haunts in Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Kent, Sussex, Devonshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Norfolk. The bulk of the specimens in collections were probably reared from the egg, or from caterpillars obtained by beating or searching the maple bushes growing in the woods frequented by the moth. ”

“ They also feed on the foliage of oak, beech, birch, sallow, rose, apple, pear, and other fruit trees. Sometimes a nearly fully mature caterpillar has been found in August, this has pupated and produced a moth the same year. The chrysalis is rather hairy and of a brownish colour; the cocoon is similar to that of the last species. In late June and through July the moth is generally common throughout the Southern part of England, and as far northwards as Lancashire and Yorkshire. It has been very rarely seen in Scotland, and not at all in Ireland. ”

“ If, however, the same line of experiment were conducted by several people, each living in a different part of the country, and with stock selected from the products of his own locality, eggs, caterpillars, or chrysalids might be exchanged, say, after the second year, and in this way the effect of "inbreeding" would be minimized.
The caterpillar, generally known as the "Woolly Bear," is not at all an uncommon object throughout the country, and is, perhaps, even more often noticed in gardens, including those of suburban London. ”

“ It feeds in July, sometimes earlier, and August, and seems to thrive on the foliage of many kinds of low-growing plants, such as dandelion, dock, plantain, chickweed, etc., and also eats the leaves of birch and rose. Chrysalis, very dark brown, almost black, glossy, but minutely pitted, giving a roughened appearance; enclosed in a close fitting cocoon composed of silk and the caterpillar's hairs, with particles of earth on the outside (Plate 79) . The moth flies at night, and except that a female may occasionally be seen on the wing, this species is rarely observed in the daytime. ”

“ The male is reddish brown, more or less clouded on the forewings with ochreous; and the female is yellow, or whitish ochreous. Sometimes this colour distinction of the sexes is reversed, and the males are pale whilst the females are dark. In the fens of Cambridgeshire notably, pale or yellowish males are not altogether uncommon. Such specimens would seem to accord better with the Linnean type than the more usual form indicated above. Barrett mentions, among other aberrations, male specimens from South Wales with the whole of the fore and hind wings deep rich glossy purplish chocolate. ”

“ In August and early September the moths appear. Emergence from the chrysalis usually takes place soon after midday; the males are early on the wing, and when reared in captivity they should be secured as soon as the wings are dry, or they may spoil themselves in their efforts to escape. Reared females are apt to be deformed, but for "assembling" they may probably be as useful as more perfect examples if the rearer happens to be able to exhibit the attraction in a locality for the species. Both sexes have been taken at electric light. ”

“ The eggs, which are whitish in colour with greyish markings, are laid, in July or early August, in twos, threes, or more, on twigs or the undersides of leaves of sloe, apple, sallow, hawthorn, etc. A single female moth has been known to lay over a thousand eggs, but this is perhaps exceptional, and somewhere about half that number is possibly near the average. ”

“ At all times it is difficult to detect, as its colour and markings agree so well with the stems, stalks, and leaves of the food plant. If a leaf of honeysuckle having round holes on each side of the midrib be noticed, examination of the underside of that leaf may reveal a young caterpillar of this species. ”

“ The moth is always very much less in evidence than the caterpillar, or even the chrysalis. Sometimes the former is seen in May or June, or even earlier, and it has been supposed that these precocious specimens have hibernated after emergence from the chrysalis here during the previous autumn. The question of hibernation need not be entertained, but there may be doubt as to whether the specimens are British born or aliens. ”

“ Hind wings whitish in the male, and suffused with blackish in the female, to a greater or lesser extent. In some examples of the female the fore wings and the body are also tinged with blackish. The antennæ are bipectinated in both sexes, but those of the female have the teeth much shorter than those of the male.
The eggs are usually laid in pairs on the upper surface of a leaf of sallow, willow, or poplar. In colour these are purplish or reddish brown, shining, and finely grained; a minute depression at the top is yellowish, with a black speck at the bottom of the hollow. ”