Richard South

“ Sallow and willow are the usual food plants, but in August, 1906, I found a half-grown caterpillar of this species on aspen, but it died a few days afterwards. The reddish-brown chrysalis is enclosed in the usual hard cocoon of its kind, which is affixed to a branch or the trunk of the tree upon which the caterpillar fed. A depression is usually selected, and when the cocoon is finished off with its covering of bark fragments it is difficult to see. ”

“ The young caterpillars most carefully keep guard over their own egg-shell, which is to them an all-important item, as this provides them with their first meal—the first and only food they take for seven days, in fact, for a longer period, as it is not until after moulting their first skin that they eat any other food. ”

“ The moth emerges between late April and early June, sometimes remaining in the chrysalis for two winters. Light attracts it freely, and it is frequently seen in the illuminated moth trap, and may be occasionally noted on the iron frame of a gas lamp in suitable places. Sometimes the moth is met with in the daytime, resting on the trunks or branches of oak trees in woods, or on palings adjacent thereto. When such specimens happen to be females, they should be kept for eggs, which they lay freely. ”

“ According to Buckler the caterpillar is pale green, with a thin whitish line down the middle of the back, a broader yellow line on each side, and some reddish spots on the front and hind rings of the body; the spiracles are black. It spins a somewhat oval-shaped cocoon between two poplar leaves, and therein turns to a glossy blackish brown chrysalis.
Abroad the species is found in Central Europe, North Italy, North-western Russia, Southern Norway, and also in Amurland and Ussuri. ”

“ When quite full grown and mature it changes to a uniform semi-transparent green, like the underside of a leaf of maple, upon which, and also sycamore, the caterpillar feeds in May and early June. Maple bushes growing in hedgerows are usually selected by the female moths when laying their eggs. These are placed on the twigs near a bud, and may be searched for at any time from November until April. The moth is shown on Plate 33. ”

“ All fly at night and are pretty rapid on the wing; possibly if it were not for the fact that a bright light has a powerful attraction for them, the perfect insects would be rarely captured. Specimens, when caught, except females which it may be well to keep for eggs, should be killed and pinned at once, as many kinds become very restless when imprisoned in a box and soon damage themselves. ”

“ The species is well distributed over England, Ireland, and Scotland; perhaps more frequently obtained on the mosses of Cheshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, than in other parts of England. It is found in Central and Northern Europe, and, according to Staudinger, in Amurland and North America.
The Puss Moth (Dicranura vinula) .
Portraits of both sexes of this rather common moth are given on Plate 24. The head, thorax, and body are very fluffy. The whitish fore wings are crossed by several wave-like lines; the main veins (nervures) are ochreous, and the branches (nervules) are blackish ”

“ Sometimes it is not easy to induce them to commence this very necessary business. The caterpillars, except those of Phalera and Pygæra, are without hairs on the body; those of the true Prominents generally have one, or more, hump on the back; in some kinds the anal prolegs or hind claspers, are small. When resting the hinder part of the caterpillar is more or less raised, several of them elevate the front portion also, and frequently the posture assumed is a most curious one. ”

“ Very little is known in Britain of this Central European moth (Plate 31, Fig. 3) . The first specimen of which we have any knowledge was reared on August 10, 1842 from a caterpillar found in Essex on aspen. ”

“ Light has an attraction for the male, but apparently not for the female.
Distributed through Central Europe, its range extends to Southern Scandinavia, Northern Italy, Livonia, Bulgaria, S.E. Russia, and Japan.
The Pale Prominent (Pterostoma palpina) .
This blackish streaked, pale brownish grey moth has been known as the Pale Prominent since 1775, when Moses Harris gave it this name. Beyond the black scaled tooth-like projection the inner margin is notched. The antennæ of the female are pectinated, but the teeth are shorter than those of the male ”

“ The female has browner hind wings than the male. The moth is depicted on Plate 31, Fig. 2; and the early stages on Plate 30, Figs. 1, 1a, and 1b.
The caterpillar, when full grown, is pale ochreous grey, sometimes tinged with pink or purplish brown, or with yellowish, and especially on the hind rings; a yellow stripe along the back is edged here and there with brownish; the diffuse dusky line along the area of the black margined spiracles is edged with yellowish. ”

“ It feeds, during August and September, in companies, until nearly full grown, and the foliage of almost any kind of tree or bush appears to be suitable food, although that of elm, lime, and hazel is often selected by the female moth when depositing her whitish eggs, which she lays in neatly arranged batches on the undersides of the leaves. ”

“ This species will be recognized by its smaller size and less distinct chocolate blotch on the tips of the fore wings. The ground colour varies from whitish grey to pale brownish grey; the pale cross lines are usually well defined; the first is bordered with chocolate colour, and angled above the middle; the third line runs from a white spot on the costa and through the chocolate patch. The moth is shown on Plate 35, and the early stages on Plate 34. ”

“ 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. ”