(Photo by W. J. Lucas.)]
This species varies a good deal in the tint of the ground colour and the
cross markings. Three forms are depicted on Plate 99: Fig. 8 is a typical
male, and Fig. 9 shows a female with distinct red bands (ab.
_rufifasciata_, Haworth); both specimens are from Surrey. The greyish
example without red markings (Fig. 10) is from Ireland, and approaches ab.
_tempestivata_, Zeller, in form.
The caterpillar ranges in colour from yellowish-green to reddish; on the
back there is a dark-green or blackish line, and often a series of marks of
the same colour; the lines on the sides are yellowish. It feeds chiefly in
or on the flowers of furze, broom, holly, clematis, hawthorn, etc., from
May to September. There are certainly two broods, possibly more. The
specimens of the first, or spring, generation are usually larger in size
and more strongly marked than those of the summer brood.
The moth is most frequent, perhaps, in April, May, July, and August, but it
may be met with in either of the months from April to November. Pretty
generally distributed over the British Isles, including the Hebrides and
the Orkneys. {251}
CLOAKED PUG (_Eucymatoge togata_).
Over sixty years ago, this fine pug (Plate 99, Figs. 11 and 12) was
detected in England. It was first noted in a plantation of spruce fir at
Black Park, Buckinghamshire, in mid-June, 1845, and for many years this was
the only known British locality. At the present time it is obtained more or
less regularly in the New Forest, and has been recorded, chiefly in single
specimens, from Wiltshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Yorkshire, and
Durham. It is not uncommon in Scotland up to Inverness, but is most
plentiful in Perthshire.
Kane (_Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Ireland_) states that it is
spreading over an extensive area in Ireland, as a result of the planting of
spruce fir.
The caterpillar, which feeds in the spruce cones, and eats the immature
seeds, is dingy white with a pinkish tinge, and suffused with blackish
above; the lines along the back and sides, when present, are whitish but
not distinct; head, and raised dots on the body, black; a brown plate on
the first ring: July and August. Cones containing caterpillars may be
secured by visiting a known locality for the species towards the end of
August, especially immediately after a gale.
The moth may be dislodged from its resting place among the branches of the
spruce in June, sometimes earlier or later.
V-PUG (_Chloroclystis coronata_).
This is "_Phalaena_" _v-ata_, Haworth, and also the V-Pug of that author. A
later English name for the species is "The Coronet Pug," an Anglicism for
the Latin specific name, and has reference to the black upper part of the
outer cross line which is twice angled and bears a fanciful resemblance to
a {252} coronet; the lower angle is, however, most distinct, therefore
Haworth's English name seems most suitable as it indicates the V-mark,
which is a noticeable character of this delicate green species. (Plate 100,
Fig. 1.)
The caterpillar is yellowish green, with three reddish lines along the
back, the central one most distinct and sometimes forming triangular marks,
or lozenges. The ground colour varies, and may be greener, yellower, or
occasionally greyish; and the markings are not always present.
There are two generations, the first in June and July, and the second in
the autumn, and in confinement a third brood is sometimes obtained. The
blossoms of various plants are eaten, but those of hemp-agrimony
(_Eupatorium cannabinum_), golden-rod (_Solidago_), clematis, and purple
loosestrife (_Lythrum salicaria_), are perhaps favourites. Hawthorn and
bramble have also been mentioned as food plants.
The moth is out in most of the months from May to August, but seems to be
most frequent in the first named.
Generally distributed in the southern half of England, extending into South
Wales, rare in Yorkshire and in Roxburghshire, Scotland. Widely distributed
in Ireland. The range abroad extends to Japan.
GREEN PUG (_Chloroclystis rectangulata_).
Of this variable species five examples are shown on Plate 100. Figs. 2 and
3 represent the typical and more usual forms; 3 varies in the direction of
ab. _subaerata_, Hubn., and Fig. 4 is the greyish ab. _cydoniata_, Bork.
Ab. _nigrosericeata_, Haworth (Fig. 6), is blackish with white submarginal
line; and an intermediate form (Fig. 5) may be referable to ab.
_sericeata_, Haworth.
The stumpy caterpillar is of a pale yellow green colour, with {253} a more
or less distinct reddish or dark-green line along the back, and reddish
ring-divisions. It feeds in flowers of the wild apple or crab, and of
apples and pears grown in orchards and gardens. It is found in April and
May, and the moth is out in June and July.
The species is common throughout the greater part of England and Wales, and
its range extends to Ross in Scotland. It has a wide distribution in
Ireland.
BILBERRY PUG (_Chloroclystis debiliata_).
As a British insect, this species (Plate 100, Figs. 7 and 8) was first
found in Devonshire, and was then known by the English name of "The Devon
Pug." As the yellowish green caterpillar, marked with a darker line along
the back and a yellowish one low down on the sides, feeds on bilberry, in
April and May, and is by no means confined to Devonshire, the popular name
here adopted is more suitable.
When quite fresh the moth, which is out in June and July, has a very
delicate tinge of green, but this quickly fades out, leaving a pale greyish
white insect. In the typical form (Fig. 7) the black central lines are
fairly well defined, but in ab. _nigropunctata_, Chant (Fig. 8), the lines
are represented by a series of dots.
The species is common in some of the sheltered hollows among the hills in
Devon and Somerset, and I used to find it in abundance in the Martinhoe
district, in the former county. The moths were rarely disturbed from the
food plant during the day, but towards dusk they flew in numbers around
small trees of mountain ash. Other counties in which it is known to occur
are--England: Cornwall, Worcester, Staffordshire, Leicester, and Lancashire
(formerly on Chat Moss). Wales: Glamorgan and Pembroke. Scotland: Aberdeen.
Ireland: Wicklow, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, and Sligo. {254}
DENTATED PUG (_Collix sparsata_).
At one time this greyish brown species (Plate 102, Figs. 1, 2) was known by
the English name of "Broom Scallop," but it is now usually referred to, in
the vulgar tongue, as the Dentated Pug. The hind wings have their outer
margins toothed rather than scalloped, and the insect has nothing to do
with broom.
The rather long caterpillar is pale green, with four white lines along the
back, and one on each side; a whitish stripe along the black spiracles.
Head, pale brown, rather flat above. (Adapted from Porritt.) It feeds on
the yellow loosestrife (_Lysimachia vulgaris_), in July and August, or even
later. Fens and marshy woodlands are the haunts of the moth, which is out
in June and early July. It hides among the coarser vegetation, and is not
always easily disturbed therefrom; neither is it often noticed when on the
wing at night, although it is sometimes found at the flowers of buckthorn.
Localities for the species are the fens of Cambridge and Norfolk, the boggy
parts of the New Forest, Hants; Dorset (Bloxworth and Hyde, etc.); Cheshire
(Delamere Forest); Yorkshire (bogs near York, and Thorne Waste).
The range abroad extends to Japan.
DARK SPINACH (_Pelurga comitata_).
The darker banded, pale ochreous species shown on Plate 102, Figs. 3
[male], 4 [female], varies in the colour of the band to brownish; the
central area of this band is almost always pale ochreous or whitish, to a
greater or lesser extent.
Caterpillar, stout and roughened; ochreous inclining to reddish, and tinged
above with greenish; a series of V-shaped marks along the back, yellow
oblique darker on the sides, and a greyish edged pale wavy line low down
along the sides. {255} The figures 2, 2a, on Plate 94 are from coloured
drawings by Mr. A. Sich.
It feeds in the autumn on the flowers and seeds of various kinds of
goosefoot (_Chenopodium_), also on Orache (_Atriplex_). The moth is out in
July and August, and may be found among its food plants and other low
herbage growing in waste places, more particularly those on sandy coasts.
Around the borders of market gardens, especially those in the south of
London, and in Kent and Surrey, it is often very common. The species
probably occurs more or less freely in suitable places almost throughout
the British Isles.
Its range abroad extends to East Siberia.
SLENDER-STRIPED RUFOUS (_Phibalapteryx lapidata_).
The rather pointed fore wings are pale brownish, and are crossed by several
fine wavy and rather darker lines, and three more distinct, slightly curved
lines, one of which is at the base and two are on the central area. The
outer margin of the hind wings, which are pale brown, more or less shaded
with dusky, is irregular. (Plate 102, Fig. 6.)
Caterpillar, whitish-yellow above, inclining to pale buff below; lines of
grey freckles along the back and sides, the lower one broader and darker;
head, grey, freckled with darker. According to Hellins, who reared it from
the egg, it feeds in May and June, on traveller's joy (_Clematis vitalba_).
The natural food is doubtful, but is said to be grass, whilst Kirby states
that in the South of France the caterpillar eats evergreen oak.
The moth is out in September and early October, and is found in Scotland on
the hills, in rough grassy and rush-covered spots, at elevations ranging
from 300 to 800 feet. In Ireland, it is not uncommon in Antrim, Donegal,
Sligo, Mayo, Galway, {256} and Limerick. Barrett states that a specimen has
been taken at Shap Fell in Westmorland.
Abroad, the range extends to East Siberia.
MANY-LINED MOTH (_Phibalapteryx polygrammata_).
The female example of this species, represented on Plate 102, Fig. 5, is
from Germany; the male is somewhat paler and the central markings less
distinct. This form is var. _conjunctaria_, Lederer, and most of the
specimens formerly obtained in the Cambridgeshire fens, chiefly Burwell and
Wicken, were referable to it. The species has not been seen in its old
fenland haunts for very many years, and it is probably now extinct in
Britain. Specimens have been in the past (and still continue to be)
recorded from other British localities, but these on investigation are
found to be cases of mistaken identity. _C. vittata_ = _lignata_ bears a
strong likeness to _P. polygrammata_, and is often confused with it, but in
the latter the outer band does not run to the tips of the fore wings, as it
does in the former species.
SMALL WAVED UMBER (_Phibalapteryx_ (_Coenocalpe_) _vitalbata_).
At first sight this moth (Plate 102, Fig. 7) might be mistaken for a small
specimen of the Waved Umber (_Hemerophila abruptaria_), but it will be
noted that the dark stripe on the fore wings starts from the middle of the
inner margin, and runs to just below the tips of the wings; the outer
margin of the hind wings is not wavy, and the antennae of the male are not
pectinated.
The caterpillar, which feeds on traveller's joy (_Clematis vitalba_), in
June-July, and in September-October, is greyish {257} brown, with three
blackish lines along the back, the central one broader than the other two,
especially on the middle of each ring, where it swells out into a black
spot.
In May and June, and again in August, the moth may be disturbed from the
food plant growing in masses in hedgerows, etc. It occurs in most of the
southern counties of England, westward to Herefordshire and South Wales,
and eastward to Suffolk. Forsythe states that it is local in the Lancaster
district.
The range abroad extends to Amurland and Japan.
THE FERN (_Phibalapteryx_ (_Coenocalpe_) _tersata_).
The general colour of this species (Plate 102, Fig. 8) is pale brown, with
a tendency to reddish in some specimens, and to greyish in others.
Caterpillar, pale brownish inclining to ochreous; on each side of an
irregular blackish line along the centre of the back is a pale yellowish
line, and there are white spots on the back of the middle rings. It feeds
on _Clematis_, in August and September. The moth is out in June and July,
and will be found in similar localities to those mentioned for the previous
species, and, except that it has not been recorded from Lancaster, its
range in England is much about the same.
The distribution abroad extends to Japan.
OBLIQUE CARPET (_Coenocalpe vittata_).
This species, also known as _lignata_, Hubner, is usually pale brown in
ground colour, tinged with ochreous or pinkish; the darker oblique stripes
vary in width and in intensity. (Plate 102, Figs. 9 [male], gen. 1; 10
[male], gen. 2.)
The caterpillar is of a yellow-green colour, inclining to {258} ochreous
brown on the upper portions of the middle rings; a darker irregular line
along the back, and a whitish line on each side, the latter edged above and
below with a fine black line; below the spiracles is a pale pinkish brown
stripe. Varies in the tint of ground colour and in the markings. It feeds,
after hibernation, on bedstraw (_Galium palustre_, _G. saxatile_, etc.),
and caterpillars from eggs laid in June may be reared on clematis, wild or
cultivated.
The moth is out in May and June, sometimes later, and a second generation
appears in August and September; the individuals of the later brood are
often smaller than those of the first brood. Its haunts are fens, marshes,
and water-meads, but in Middlesex I have taken a specimen or two flying
along a weedy ditch. Widely distributed throughout the British Isles, but
not noted in Scotland north of Moray.
THE GEM (_Percnoptilota fluviata_).
Also known in the vulgar tongue as "The Narrow-barred Carpet." As will be
seen on reference to Plate 102, the male (Fig. 12) is pale brown with a
dark central band; and the female (Fig. 11) is purplish brown, the central
band rather blackish, and on it is the discal mark, a black centred white
spot. The specimens figured are rather small.
The following aberrations have been named--ab. _marginata_, Mathew, with
the fringes of all the wings conspicuously pinky-grey; ab. _olivacea_,
Mathew, a form of the female with olive brown fore wings; ab. _obsoleta_,
Mathew, a form of the male with the dark central band nearly or quite
absent.
[Illustration]
2 Pl. 102.
1, 2. DENTATED PUG.
3, 4. DARK SPINACH.
5. MANY-LINED.
6. SLENDER-STRIPED RUFOUS.
7. SMALL WAVED UMBER.
8. THE FERN.
9, 10. OBLIQUE CARPET.
11, 12. THE GEM.
[Illustration]
2 Pl. 103.
1-5. MAGPIE MOTH.
6-8. CLOUDED MAGPIE.
{259} The caterpillar is greyish, sometimes tinged with pink, and sometimes
with green; three dusky lines on the head and first three rings of the
body, a series of blackish outlined, whitish marks on the middle rings, and
blackish marks on the other rings, which are pale in colour; a blackish
line above the black-edged spiracles is broken up into dashes on the middle
rings. Several other forms of the caterpillar, which is a variable one,
have been described by Hellins. The food comprises groundsel, knotgrass,
chrysanthemum, and various other plants. 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; also from Wales, and from several
parts of Ireland: April to November.