Richard South

“ This blackish-grey species (Plate 107, Fig. 6) has been confused in the past with pictaria, Thunberg, which is referable to Cleora lichenaria, and it was then known by the popular name of "The Grey Carpet." As the caterpillar feeds on the foliage of the sloe, and the moth is fond of resting on the stems and twigs, and appears at the time the bushes are wreathed in their snowy blossoms, the sloe carpet seems to be rather more suitable than are most of the names by which our moths are popularly known. ”

“ The fore wings in the male are pale greyish, more or less tinged with ochreous brown, and crossed by a dark grey, inclining to blackish, central band; the base of the wings is often banded with dark grey, as also is the outer marginal area; on the latter, above the middle, are twin black spots, and there is a black spot or streak above nearer the tip of the wing. The female is smaller, paler, often whitish, and sometimes pale ochreous; the latter form is prevalent in the Shetlands ”

“ Possibly the species is more widely spread over England than the records show it to be. In Wales, it has been found in the North; in Scotland, it occurs locally from Berwick to Aberdeen; and it is doubtfully recorded from Ireland. The long, thin caterpillar is ochreous-brown, with a pale stripe on each side. It feeds on the leaves of various low plants, and seems, at times, to like its food best when withered. ”

“ 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 {157}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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Dark brown or blackish specimens (ab. unicolorata, Staudinger) are captured now and then in the southern counties of England, but such uniform dark varieties are more frequent in the north (Staffordshire and Yorkshire) . The female is white in colour, and usually only lightly speckled with blackish; the cross lines are more conspicuous, as a rule, than in the male, but they are subject to pretty much the same kind of aberration. Sometimes examples of this sex greatly resemble Fidonia carbonaria, and have been confused with that species by Haworth and other entomologists in the past. ”

“ There are several generations during the year, and in hot weather the caterpillars feed up rapidly, so quickly indeed that in about a month the whole round of changes from egg to moth is effected. The species is migratory in habit, and there is little doubt that the specimens taken in this country in late spring or early summer are immigrants; those examples obtained later in the year are probably the descendants of such aliens. It is more frequently noted from southern England, chiefly from the seaboard counties, but it has been recorded from Lancashire and Yorkshire ”

“ Sometimes the first and third lines may be well in evidence and the central one absent; occasionally the second line is placed quite close to the first; the sub-marginal line is whitish, inwardly shaded with dark greyish, especially at the middle and towards the front margin. The hind wings have two cross lines corresponding with the first and third on the fore wings. There is a good deal of variation in the amount of dark speckling, and this is occasionally so heavy that the insect becomes dark grey in colour; I have taken such specimens at Oxshott in Surrey. ”

“ In 1899, Mr. G. B. Corbin recorded the capture, near Ringwood, Hants, of a specimen which had the spots on the fore wings and the red of the hind wings darkened over with dull smoky black, so that the insect when seen at a distance seemed to be wholly black. Dr. Hodgson has recently obtained several of these melanic specimens in Sussex. A form with the spots and hind wings suffused with brownish has been named ab. obscura, Oberthür.
With regard to six-spot examples referred to this species, I am inclined to suppose that they may be the offspring of a chance pairing of trifolii and filipendulæ. ”

“ 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. ”