This family of moths mainly comprises tropical species, and is but poorly
represented in the Palaearctic Region. Only two species are European, and
both occur in Britain.
As _Cochlidion_, Hubner, supersedes _Limacodes_, Latrielle, the name of the
family so long known as Limacodidae, will have to {345} be changed to that
here adopted. Meyrick, who sinks _Limacodes_ in favour of _Apoda_, Haworth,
uses Heterogeneidae as the family name.
THE FESTOON (_Cochlidion_ (_Heterogenea_) _limacodes_).
The fore wings of the male are orange brown, more or less smudged or
clouded with blackish; two oblique black lines, the first inclined inwards,
and the second outwards and apparently terminating on the outer margin just
above the inner angle, but there is a slender dusky curve from this point
enclosing a clear, orange-brown spot. Hind wings blackish, except on the
inner margin, which is broadly orange brown. Female, ochreous brown, with
lines on the fore wings as in the male; hind wings suffused with dark grey
or blackish, except on the inner area; generally rather larger than the
male. (Plate 153, Figs. 1 [male], 2 [female].) Not infrequently, the fore
wings of the male are so much clouded with blackish that the cross lines
are obscured, and the spot on the inner margin alone remains clear.
The caterpillar (Plate 149, Fig. 1, from a coloured drawing by Mr. A. Sich)
is green, with two reddish-edged yellow lines on the back; between these
lines are yellowish spots; a yellow line along the sides extends along the
front edge of the second ring, where it is marked with red. It feeds on
oak, and may be beaten from the boughs in the autumn. The brownish cocoon
is depicted on Plate 149; Fig. 1a shows the hinged lid which covered the
opening through which the chrysalis protruded previous to the moth's
escape; Fig. 1b represents one from which the moth has not emerged, and in
nature this would be attached to a leaf and covered with a delicate film of
silk. The moth is out in June and July, and both sexes may be beaten from
the branches of trees, or seen flying around their tops in the sunshine.
{346}
This species, often referred to as _Limacodes testudo_, and said to be the
_avellana_ of Linnaeus, is an inhabitant of oak woods, and occurs in
Hampshire, Sussex, Kent, Essex, Suffolk, Oxfordshire, Bucks,
Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire. A male and two females have been
reported from Clonbrock, Co. Galway, Ireland.
THE TRIANGLE (_Heterogena asella_).
The fore wings of this little species (Plate 153, Figs. 4 [male] and 5
[female]) are of triangular shape; in the male, which sex is smaller than
the female, they are dark brown, sometimes almost blackish (ab. _nigra_,
Tutt), and those of the female yellowish brown varying to ochreous yellow
(ab. _flavescens_, Tutt). The hind wings of the male are blackish, and of
the female clouded with blackish.
The curious woodlouse-shaped caterpillar is green, sometimes inclining to
yellowish; the broad reddish band on the back broadens out before the
middle, thus giving the idea of a rough cross, or, as sometimes described,
a blunt spear head. It is found, by searching, in August and until October,
on the foliage of beech and oak. Birch has also been mentioned as a food
plant, and on the continent it is said to feed on poplar, lime, hazel, and
hornbeam. Fig. 2 on Plate 149 is from a photo by Mr. H. Main.
Although the caterpillar constructs its gall-like cocoon on a leaf or in
the fork of a twig in the autumn, it does not change to a chrysalis until
late in spring, sometimes not until June. The moth is out in June and July
and flies in the sunshine, chiefly in the afternoon, and might easily be
confused with the Lechean Tortrix (_Ptycholoma lecheana_).
[Illustration]
2 Pl. 150.
1, 2. GOAT MOTH.
[Illustration]
2 Pl. 151.
GOAT MOTH: _caterpillar, chrysalis and cocoon_.
{347} The species appears to be very local in England and confined to the
south. Its chief haunts seem to be in Bucks, where it is not uncommon in
beech woods at Marlow, and in Hampshire, especially parts of the New
Forest. It has been found in Epping Forest, Essex; rarely in Abbot's Wood
and Rewell Wood, Sussex; also recorded from Bickleigh Vale and the Plym
Valley, Devonshire.
The range abroad extends to Amurland.