Richard South

“ When full grown the caterpillar is green, roughened with yellow points, oblique stripes on the sides yellow, spiracles reddish, horn of the general colour, sometimes tipped with reddish. Head triangular in shape, but not pointed on the top. A reddish spotted form of the caterpillar is not very uncommon. 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. ”

“ The fine moth represented on Plate 8 is the largest species found in the British Isles, although in measurement from tip to tip when the wings are expanded it does not exceed that of the next species, both varying in this respect from 41⁄2 to 5 inches. It is, however, a stouter bodied insect, and its wings are broader. The colour and markings are so well shown in the illustration that a description is unnecessary. ”

“ The chrysalis, which is reddish, or blackish-brown in colour, is figured with the other stages on Plate 13.
The moth usually emerges the following June or July, but there are at least two records of its remaining in the chrysalis during two winters.
The southern portion of England appears to be the principal British home of this moth. It is more or less scarce in the midlands and northwards. In Scotland it has only been recorded from southern counties, and in his "Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Ireland," Kane states that he has no certain record of its occurrence in that country. ”

“ The full-grown caterpillar measures nearly three inches in length, and is rather plump. It is blackish or brownish grey, thickly sprinkled with black dots on the back and more sparingly on the sides; the spiracles are ochreous ringed with blackish, and below them is an ochreous line, which is most distinct on the front rings; on each side of the third to fifth rings there is a round black spot, the second and third pairs enclosing black centred whitish lunules which are sometimes tinged with pink or yellow; the horn is much of the same colour as the body. ”

“ 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. Caterpillars from eggs laid in early May are likely to feed up and attain the perfect state in late July, and eggs resulting from these will pass through the caterpillar state to that of chrysalis by about September. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In May and June the moth emerges, usually in the afternoon, and may sometimes be found on the trunks of trees, or on palings near limes and elms. When at rest the fore wings are so arranged over the hind ones that they, in conjunction with the upturned body, give the insect more the appearance of a bunch of immature leaves than of a moth.
The species is widely distributed throughout the southern counties of England, and in some of them, more especially around London, it is common. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The yellow-flowering bedstraw (Galium verum) seems to be the kind upon which the caterpillar is most often found, but it also occurs on the hedge bedstraw (G. mollugo) . It has been known to eat wild madder (Rubia peregrina) , and is stated to thrive in confinement on goose-grass or cleavers (G. aparine) . When full grown a loosely woven cocoon is formed on the ground beneath the food plant, or other herbage, and therein the caterpillar changes to an ochreous grey or brownish chrysalis. This is marked with darker brown on the wing covers and around the spiracles ”

“ On Plate 5 are three slightly different examples of this moth. In colour it is most frequently ashy grey, with a brownish central band, and other markings; there is a white spot on the fore wings and a conspicuous red patch at the base of the hind wings. The female is generally paler than the male, and often has a pinkish tinge. Specimens of a pale buff colour are sometimes obtained, and these are most often of the female sex, although male examples of this form are not unknown. ”

“ The moth is also said to have a liking for the sap exuded by wounded trees. Although the species may, perhaps, be with us in certain favoured localities every year, it does not often occur, in any stage, in numbers sufficient to attract general attention. I have not searched the chronicles of Atropos in Britain earlier than 1864, but from these it seems that the species was widely distributed and generally common in 1865, 1868, 1878, 1885, 1896, and 1900. More or less common in certain localities in 1867, 1869, 1870-1872, 1877, 1880, 1882, 1884, 1893, 1895, 1899, 1911, and 1917. ”

“ The caterpillar has not been seen often in England. Mr. Farn recorded six or seven from Ryde in July, 1870; they were feeding on vine and centaury in a garden. One spun up in the leaves at the bottom of the box on July 27, but the web was so fragile that the caterpillar fell out, and changed to the chrysalis state on the 30th. The moth emerged on August 26. In the same year several caterpillars occurred in Devon and Cornwall, and one of these was found on July 11 in a mangold-wurtzel field in the Exeter district. It was afterwards reared on fuchsia, and produced a moth on August 18. ”

“ Cross pairings between the Eyed-hawk and the Poplar-hawk are not altogether difficult to obtain, but the female populi pairs more readily with male ocellatus than the female of the last named species will with the male of populi. ”

“ It may be found in July and August. In some years, when the moths emerge in May, caterpillars are found as early as June, and this is followed by the occurrence of the caterpillar again, as a second brood, in August and September. When quite mature the caterpillar enters an inch or two into the soil, and there forms a weak sort of cell in which it shortly afterwards turns to a brown, or blackish-brown, smooth and rather glossy chrysalis. ”

“ The larva feeds upon an exotic plant; but has been found in a garden near Charmouth, as appears by a subsequent communication to the Ent. Magazine by Captain Blomer."
The next record of the moth appears in the Zoologist for 1852. "On the 11th of September a specimen of Chærocampa nerii was taken in Montpelier Road, Brighton, by a young gentleman at school, while it was hovering over a passion flower." Two caterpillars were found in a garden at Eastbourne, feeding upon the leaves of potato, in October, 1859. In confinement they ate periwinkle, but they were not reared. ”

“ In some the right side is male, in others the left side; the opposite side in each case being female. Much information on this subject and on Hybridism of the Sphingidæ will be found in Tutt's "British Lepidoptera," vol. iii.
The pale shining green eggs are laid, generally singly, but sometimes in twos, threes, or more, on either surface of a leaf of poplar or sallow. Now and then batches of eggs may be found, and these have probably been laid by females that were crippled on emergence, or had been afterwards injured in some way and so were unable to fly.
Fig. 17.Eggs of Poplar Hawk-moth. ”

“ The common honeysuckle, or woodbine (Lonicera periclymenum) is the usual food, but in confinement the caterpillars will eat the foliage of the cultivated kinds of Lonicera, and, it is stated, even snowberry (Symphoricarpus racemosus) . ”

“ From that time, and up to 1814, a large number of the caterpillars were obtained from Euphorbia paralias growing on Braunton Burrows, a long stretch of sandhills on the north Devonshire coast, accessible from Barnstaple or Ilfracombe, which, when I visited the locality some twenty-five years ago, was greatly favoured by rabbits. ”

“ About sixty species belonging to this family, scientifically known as the Sphingidæ, are recorded from the Palæarctic region, and of these twenty-seven are found in Europe. About ten only can be considered as true natives of the British Isles ”

“ A female was taken at Brighton, July 18, 1898, and in the autumn of that year a good many specimens were obtained in various parts of England but chiefly in the south. Portland again heading the list with over fifty (August 4 to October 3) and a number were taken in the Isle of Wight during September. Captures in 1899 seem to have been only pretty good. Portland twenty, August 25 to September 20, perhaps less than a dozen in other parts of England and one in Scotland, all in September or October. ”

“ A female moth captured at Brighton on July 18, 1898, deposited twenty-five eggs on Convolvulus arvensis up to July 20, and the next day a further eight were counted. The moth died on the 22nd. Caterpillars hatched out July 27-28. These were whitish green, with a rough blackish horn; after second moult they became green, with a darker green stripe along the back, but without oblique side stripes.
In its more usual form the caterpillar, when full grown, is bright apple-green, narrowly streaked with black; oblique stripes on the sides yellowish; horn reddish, tip black. ”

“ When ready for the change it burrows underground, and, where the soil is sandy and light, it works down pretty deeply before making the frail cell, in which it turns to a reddish-brown chrysalis with blackish markings, somewhat similar to those of the next species ”

“ Single specimens of the moth have been seen in the earliest months of the year, as for example, January 31, 1898 (Bath) , January 3, 1899 (S. Wales) , February 2, 1900 (London) ; it has also been observed several times in December. ”