THE SMALL SERAPHIM (_Lobophora_ (_Mysticoptera_) _sexalisata_).
This is a much smaller species than the last. The fore wings are whitish,
with brownish-grey, or blackish-grey, cross lines and bands; the central
most distinct towards the front margin, where it encloses a black dot; hind
wings greyish, with black central dot. (Plate 58, Figs. 1 and 2.)
The green, much wrinkled caterpillar has three whitish lines or stripes
along the back, and in some examples there is a white line low down along
the sides; the head, which inclines to yellowish, is notched, and there are
two pinkish points on the last ring of the body. It feeds on sallow in
August and September.
The moth is to be found in May and June, and, in some years, again in July
and August. It inhabits woods and hedgerows where sallow is plentiful, but,
perhaps, is obtained more freely in fens. Occasionally it may be beaten
from the hedges, but it is active on the wing just before the close of day,
and then disports itself over and about the sallow bushes. It occurs in
suitable localities in most of the eastern and southern counties of
England, and has been reported from some of the northern ones, and from
Glamorganshire, in South Wales. Kane states that it has been found in the
north, south, east, and west of Ireland, but is always local and scarce.
NOTE.--Prout considers this species to be the _sexalata_ of Retzius (1783).
WINTER MOTH (_Cheimatobia brumata_).
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.
The male has greyish brown fore wings, which are crossed by rather darker
lines, and a dark, more or less distinct, central band (ab. _hyemata_,
Huene). The ground colour is very much darker in some specimens than in
others, and examples of a sooty brown colour are not infrequent; Barrett
mentions an almost buff-coloured specimen. In the female, the tiny affairs
representing wings are brownish, with indications of a darker band towards
the outer margin of the front pair.
A small, purplish brown form, reared in January, 1882, from caterpillars
found in Cumberland, feeding on sweet gale (_Myrica gale_), was described
as a new species under the name _myricaria_, Cooke (_Entom._, xv. 57). This
has been referred by Staudinger to _C. boreata_, as a form of that species,
but it is probably an aberration of _C. brumata._
The caterpillar is green, with a stripe of darker green along the back; on
each side of this are two white lines, and along the black spiracles is a
pale yellowish line; head, green, sometimes marked with blackish. It feeds
on the foliage of trees and bushes, and sometimes abounds in April and May.
The moth appears during the winter months, and has been noted as early as
October and as late as February. (Plate 58, Figs. 8-10.)
Generally distributed throughout the British Isles.
NORTHERN WINTER MOTH (_Cheimatobia boreata_).
This species is generally larger than the last-mentioned. The fore wings
are marked somewhat as in that species, {158} but they are paler in colour
and more glossy; hind wings whitish and glossy. In the female, the wings
are useless for flying, but still they are larger than those of _brumata_.
The front pair have a blackish band. (Plate 58, Figs. 6 and 7 [male], 5
[female]; ova. Plate 59, Fig. 1.)
The caterpillar is greenish, with a greyish stripe along the back, another
edged above with yellow along the black spiracles, and a greyish line
between the stripes; the head is black. It feeds, in May and June, on
birch, and the moth does not appear until October or November.
At one time considered to be a purely northern species: the earliest known
British specimens, four in number, having been captured at Petty Pool,
Delamere, Cheshire, on October 31, 1848. It is now known, however, to have
a wide distribution in the south of England. Northwards, its range extends
throughout England and Scotland up to Moray. It is found in South Wales;
also in Galway, Monaghan, and Connemara, in Ireland.
THE TISSUE (_Triphosa dubitata_).
The fore wings of this glossy species (Plate 60, Figs. 1, 2) are pale
brown, tinged more or less strongly with rosy or purplish; there are
numerous darker and paler cross lines, the most distinct and constant being
the blackish basal, and the two forming the edges of the central band; the
latter are marked with black; the submarginal line is whitish, wavy, and
sometimes broken up into dots. The species varies considerably in tint,
some specimens inclining to pale greyish brown, others to smoky brown. Hind
wings, whitish grey, with several darker grey cross lines; in dark
specimens these wings are smoky grey. Ab. _cinereata_, Stephens, is a small
pale greyish form, almost without rosy tinge and with fewer cross lines.
The caterpillar (Plate 62, Fig. 1) is yellowish green with {159} darker
green stripes and lines. In another form there are four pale yellowish
lines along the back and a yellow stripe low down along the sides. It feeds
on buckthorn (_Rhamnus_), the leaves of which it fastens together with
silk, and so forms a retreat. It will also eat sloe and bird-cherry
(_Prunus padus_).
The moth is out in August and through the autumn, when it sometimes visits
the flowers of ivy, ragwort, etc.; after hibernation it is again seen,
perhaps even more frequently, in April and May, and is then occasionally
found at sallow catkins. The species seems to have been noted from nearly
all the English counties, but becomes rare from Yorkshire northwards. In
Wales, and in Ireland, it is apparently widely distributed, but in Scotland
it seems confined to southern localities, and is only rarely met with.
Abroad, the distribution spreads to Amurland, China, and Japan.
THE SCARCE TISSUE (_Eucosmia_ (_Calocalpe_) _certata_).
This species is very similar to the last, but the wings are not glossy,
only reddish on the outer margin, and the black marked lines edging the
central band of the fore wings are less irregular, the inner ones usually
being much straighter. On the under side of the hind wings of the male is a
fold enclosing hairs; this is on the inner margin, just above the anal
angle. (Plate 60, Fig. 3 [female].)
The thickset caterpillar (Plate 62, Fig. 3, after Hofmann) is greyish
inclining to greenish; four white lines along the back, the central pair
enclosing a dark line, the others are bordered below with dark greyish; the
black spiracles are set in yellowish blotches, and the plates on first and
last rings are brown; head, reddish-brown, glossy (adapted from Fenn). It
feeds on the barberry (_Berberis vulgaris_) and the holly-leaved barberry
(_B. aquifolium_) grown in gardens, in June and July. The moth {160} is out
in May and June, but in favourable seasons has appeared in late April. When
on the wing at night it is freely attracted by light, but otherwise not
often noticed. The species has occurred in many of the English counties
from Devon to Durham, but it seems to be only common in the eastern
counties, and most frequent perhaps in Suffolk. It has been recorded from
South Wales, but is seemingly absent from Ireland.
The range abroad extends to Amurland.
THE SCALLOP SHELL (_Eucosmia undulata_).
Wings pale greyish, sometimes ochreous tinted, and crossed by numerous
dark-grey wavy lines inclining to blackish on the front margin of the fore
wings; the waves of the central pair of lines on the fore wings often meet
and so form a series of rings; sometimes the space between the eighth and
twelfth lines is of a dusky hue, and occasionally it is distinctly darker
and band-like; the outer margin of all the wings is brownish and traversed
by a wavy white line. The male has tufts of blackish hair in a fold on the
inner margin of the hind wing, this is noticeable on the upper side, but is
best seen from the under side. (Plate 60, Figs. 4 [male], 5 [female].)
The somewhat dumpy caterpillar is reddish-brown with four yellowish lines
along the back; a greyish stripe along the sides, and a creamy stripe along
the black spiracles; head, pale brown and glossy. It feeds on sallow,
aspen, and bilberry, and may be found from August throughout the autumn in
spun-together leaves at the tips of the shoots. (Plate 62, Fig. 2.)
The moth is out in June and July, and occurs in woods where there is a good
growth of bilberry, or in marshy spots where sallow bushes abound.
In England the species is widely distributed over the southern and eastern
counties; its range extends through the Midlands to Cheshire, Lancs., and
Westmorland, rarely in Lincoln and Yorks., and once recorded in Durham; it
occurs in Wales and in Scotland, but only in the more southern part of each
country. It is not plentiful in Ireland, but widely distributed. The range
abroad includes Amurland.
[Illustration]
2 Pl. 60.
1, 2. THE TISSUE.
3. SCARCE TISSUE.
4, 5. THE SCALLOP SHELL.
6. THE BROWN SCALLOP.
7, 8. THE DARK UMBER.
[Illustration]
2 Pl. 61.
1. NETTED CARPET.
2. SPECKLED YELLOW, VAR.
3. DOTTED BORDER WAVE (AB. _CIRCELLATA_).
4. GARDEN CARPET (AB. _COSTOVATA_).
5, 6. YELLOW SHELL, ABERRANT FORMS.
7. TAWNY-BARRED ANGLE (AB. _NIGROFULVATA_).
8, 9. BROKEN-BARRED CARPET, SCOTTISH FORM.
{161}
THE BROWN SCALLOP (_Scotosia vetulata_).
The male is always smaller than the female, and is noticeable for its long
body with tuft of hairs at the extremity. The wings in both sexes are dingy
brown, or greyish brown, and the usual lines on fore wings are blackish,
the space between first and second often dusky. (Plate 60, Fig. 6.)
The caterpillar is short and stout, and in form very like that of the
winter moth; the back and a central dorsal stripe are black, the latter
bordered with white, the sides are yellow; the spiracular line is black,
broken, and unconnected; the spiracles are black; the head is black, and
the edge of the first ring of the body is yellow. (Crewe.) It feeds, in May
and June, on purging buckthorn (_Rhamnus catharticus_), and is to be found
between two or more leaves, which it spins together as a hiding place.
In June and July the moth may sometimes be obtained by beating bushes of
buckthorn, or the herbage below and around; this plan works best when
operated just before dusk. As a British insect it is only found in England,
and is most frequent in the southern and eastern counties, but widely
distributed in the west to Worcester, and has been found in Lancashire,
Westmorland, and Yorks. In the last-named county, caterpillars were
obtained freely at Askham Bogs in 1900.
When Stephens wrote of this insect in 1831 he noted its occurrence "in a
lane near Fulham." Even so recently as 1906 I obtained specimens on the
Putney side of Wimbledon Common.