(Photo by W. J. Lucas.)]
On Plate 120 are shown the typical and more usual forms of this variable
species. Fig. 2 represents the male, and Fig. 4 the female. The form with
blackish base and outer margin is ab. _marmorinaria_, Esper (Plate 120,
Fig. 5). Ab. _merularia_, Weymer, is entirely black, and a modification of
this form is shown in Fig. 6. Between each of these extremes and the type
there are various gradations.
The caterpillar is usually some shade of green, with yellowish lines on the
back, and some have brownish marks on the sides; in others there are dark
brown marks on the back of each ring. It feeds on the leaves of oak, in
April and May.
The moth rests on tree-trunks, fences, etc., and the males may be thus
found during the day in February, earlier or later in some seasons; the
female is less often obtained on trees and fences, but may be beaten,
together with the male, from the dead leaves which remain upon oak and
other bushes.
The species appears to occur, more or less locally, in most of the English
counties; it has also been recorded from Pembrokeshire and Flintshire, in
Wales. In Scotland, it is obtained in {291} the south, and northwards to
Aberdeenshire. There are but two records from Ireland, and these are
doubtful.
Abroad, the range extends to Amurland and Japan.
SCARCE UMBER (_Hybernia aurantiaria_).
One specimen of each sex of this orange yellow species will be found on
Plate 120, where Fig. 7 represents the male, and Fig. 9 the female; the
cross lines, in the male, are usually distinct on all the wings, but those
on the hind pair are sometimes very faint, and occasionally absent. The
ground colour is paler in some specimens than in others, and there is
variation in the amount of purplish speckling, in the purplish clouding
following the second line, and in the submarginal series of purplish marks
of the fore wings. The marginal dots are sometimes absent from the hind
wings, most frequently in specimens with faint cross lines on these wings.
The eggs (Plate 125, Fig. 2), when I received them in February, were
purplish, or violet brown.
The caterpillar is yellowish, inclining to ochreous, lined with brown on
the back, and striped with purplish on the sides; underside, dark purplish
brown, inclining to blackish, and striped with yellowish. It feeds in the
spring, sometimes to June, on oak, birch, blackthorn, etc., and may be
found on the leaves during the day. The moth is out in the latter part of
the year, from October, and is best obtained at night, when sitting on the
twigs of trees and bushes, but a specimen or two may be found on
tree-trunks, palings, etc., in the daytime.
The species is widely distributed over England, and in some parts it is
common in woods; also occurs in Wales. In Scotland it is very rare and
local in Roxburghshire; local and uncommon in the Clyde area, and has been
recorded from other parts of the country up to Aberdeen. Rare in Ireland,
but noted from {292} Tyrone (local among birches at Cookstown), Monaghan,
Fermanagh (Enniskillen), and Galway.
DOTTED BORDER (_Hybernia marginaria_).
On Plate 120 four specimens of this rather variable species are depicted.
Figs. 8 [male] and 10 [female] show the more usual form; Fig. 12 represents
the northern English, blackish var. _fuscata_, Harrison, and Fig. 11 an
intermediate form resulting from a cross-pairing of _fuscata_ [female] with
a southern [male]. Somewhat similar forms to the last have been captured in
Wear Dale, Durham.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.