THE SCARCE MERVEILLE DU JOUR (_Diphtera orion_).
This pretty moth has the fore wings green variegated with white stripes and
black cross lines; the hind wings are greyish, marked with white at the
anal angle. The spaces between the interrupted cross lines of the fore
wings are often marked with {190} black, and this is the typical form of
the species; the plainer specimens--those less spotted with black--being
referable to var. _runica_, Stephens. Stephens in 1829 notes that the
species was then little known in England. It is still very local,
inhabiting oak woods in Sussex (Hailsham), Hampshire (New Forest, sometimes
common), Devonshire (Plymouth district), Cornwall (East Looe), Essex
(Colchester), and Suffolk (Ipswich). The moth is out in June; on September
5, 1906, Mr. L. W. Newman bred a small specimen that had only been in the
chrysalis seventeen days. Usually it rests by day on boughs, and sometimes
on the trunks of trees (see Fig. 8, p. 9); it flies at night and then
patronizes the sugar patch, but often is a late visitor. The caterpillar,
which feeds upon oak in July and August, is black on the back with a yellow
or whitish blotch on rings four, six, and nine; the reddish warts are
crowned with tufts of brown or whitish hairs. Head black marked with yellow
except on the top. It is also said to eat leaves of beech and birch.
Staudinger gives _alpium_, Osbeck (1778), as an earlier name than _orion_,
Esp. Hampson refers alpinum to _Daseochæta_, Warren.
Distribution: Central and Northern Europe, and represented by var.
_murrhina_, Graes., in Amurland, China, and Japan.
The moth is depicted on Plate 100, Fig. 1, and the caterpillar and
chrysalis on Plate 101, Figs. 2, 2a.
THE NUT-TREE TUSSOCK (_Demas coryli_).
Usually the fore wings of this moth appear to be brownish, or reddish brown
on the basal half, and whitish, more or less suffused with greyish, or
sometimes reddish brown, on the outer half; the hind wings are pale
brownish, or greyish, lighter towards the base. Not infrequently the fore
wings are greyish white with some brownish clouding between the two
blackish cross lines. The caterpillar is variable in colour, but generally
of some shade of brown, ranging from dark chocolate brown to {191} pale
ochreous, covered with soft hair; the pencils of long hairs on the first
ring, and the tufts of hairs on rings four, five, and eleven, may be red,
greyish, or blackish; the broken stripe along the back is greyish, and the
stripe low down on each side may be red, brown, or greyish. It feeds in
June and July, and as a second generation in September, on the foliage of
beech, birch, hazel, hornbeam, etc.: bushes growing in exposed positions
such as a hedge bank or hill side are chiefly fancied. The moth flies in
May and June, and again in August and September. It probably occurs in most
of the English counties, but is most frequent in Berkshire, Bucks, and
Devon. Not uncommon in Clydesdale, but more plentiful in Aberdeenshire, and
is also obtained in Perthshire, and in other parts of Scotland. Widely
distributed in Ireland.
The moth is shown on Plate 100, Fig. 2, and the early stages on Plate 101,
Figs. 3, 3a, 3b.
THE MILLER (_Acronycta leporina_).
In its typical form the wings are quite white with but little in the way of
marking. Most, if not all, the specimens occurring in Britain are the more
or less greyish suffused and more marked, variety known as _bradyporina_,
Treits. (Plate 100, Figs. 3 [male], 4 [female].) Sometimes the outer
margins of the fore wings, beyond the second cross line, are shaded or
dusted with blackish (var. _semivirga_, Tutt). In the Liverpool district a
form is occasionally obtained in which the fore wings are darkly suffused,
and the thorax is black (var. _melanocephala_, Mansbridge). A specimen with
black fore wings and white fringes has been bred from a caterpillar found
in Essex (_Entomologist_, xxxviii., 289, and xxxix., 97).
The caterpillar is pale green clothed with long white, and a few black
hairs; these fall downwards, and on the one side curve forwards, and on the
other side backwards. Sometimes in the {192} south of England, more
frequently in the north, the ground colour and hairs are yellow, and there
are more or less distinct reddish brown bands on the back and sides. It may
be found from July to September, or even later, on birch or alder, rarely
on oak and poplar. The moth occurs in May and June, as a rule. In 1904 I
took a freshly emerged specimen on July 23, at Byfleet in Surrey, and some
half-grown caterpillars were obtained on the same day, and very near the
same spot. The species is found in woods, and on heaths and mosses, where
birch or alder flourishes, from Devonshire in England to Sutherlandshire in
Scotland. It is not common anywhere in our islands, but is perhaps most
frequently met with in the south and east of England. In Ireland it appears
to have been found only in the southern counties.
THE SYCAMORE (_Acronycta aceris_).
The dark mottled grey moth on Plate 100, Fig. 5, is not much given to
variation, but occasionally brownish suffused forms occur (var.
_candelisequa_, Esp. = _infuscata_, Haworth).
The caterpillar (Plate 102, Fig. 3) feeds in August and September upon
sycamore, maple, and sometimes plum and chestnut. It has some black-edged
white marks along the middle of the back; the pointed tufts of long hairs
are yellow or reddish. When it is at rest on the underside of a leaf, or
coils in a ring on being disturbed, the hair tufts gave the creature a
somewhat prickly appearance. The moth is out in June and July.
The species is more or less common pretty well through the southern and
eastern counties, and fairly so in and around London. Its range extends to
Warwickshire and Herefordshire; but it is scarce in both counties. The
Irish localities for it are Claring Bridge and Ahascragh, Co. Galway;
Glandore and Timologue, Co. Cork; Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh.
[Illustration]
Pl. 102.
1. KNOT GRASS: _caterpillar_.
2. SCARCE DAGGER: _caterpillars_.
3, 3a, 3b. SYCAMORE: _caterpillar, chrysalis and cocoon_.
[Illustration]
Pl. 103.
1, 2. LIGHT KNOT-GRASS.
3. SCARCE DAGGER.
4. SWEET GALE MOTH.
5. CORONET MOTH.
6, 7. KNOT-GRASS MOTH.
8. MARBLED GREEN, _male_; 11 _female_.
9. MARBLED BEAUTY, _male_; 12 _female_.
10. POWDERED WAINSCOT.
{193}
THE POPLAR GREY (_Acronycta megacephala_).
This moth is somewhat like that last noticed, but the fore wings are darker
grey; the whitish orbicular mark is margined with black, and has a dark
central dot. Sometimes the fore wings are clouded with blackish, and
occasionally entirely suffused with black. In several species of
_Acronycta_ newly disclosed specimens have a faint pinky tinge, but this is
especially noticeable in the present species. (Plate 100, Fig. 6.)
The caterpillar is ochreous or grey brown, marked with blackish; a
conspicuous character is a black-edged whitish or ochreous patch on ring
ten; the hairs are whitish, those on the sides rather long. It feeds from
July to September on the foliage of poplars. (Plate 101, Fig. 1).
This well-known cockney species is on the wing from late May to mid-August.
Has been bred in September from a caterpillar taken in July, also in
October from August larvæ. It is often abundant on poplars (especially the
caterpillars) in London and suburbs. Common all over the southern parts of
England, except perhaps in Devon and Cornwall; its range extends through
Northern England to Ross in Scotland; and it is found in the south of
Ireland.
THE ALDER (_Acronycta alni_).
[Illustration: Fig. 26.