Volume I Part 6 (1/2)

It occurs throughout the greater part of England and Wales and northwards to Sutherlands.h.i.+re in Scotland. In Ireland it is abundant in many localities.

Distributed over Europe its range extends northwards to Lapland, southwards to north-west Africa, and eastward to Amurland.

PROMINENTS (_Notodontidae_).

In the majority of our moths belonging to this family there is a tooth-like tuft of scales projecting from about the middle of the inner margin of the fore wings; these, when the moth is resting, are brought together and raised above the level of the closed wings (see Fig. 11, page 11). The antennae of the male are bipectinated in most of the species, but those of _Odontosia_, _Lophopteryx_, and _Phalera_ are dentated and each tooth has a little tuft of short hair.

The moths are not often seen in the day time, but a few species are sometimes met with at rest on tree trunks, palings, etc. All fly at night and are pretty rapid on the wing; possibly if it were not for the fact that a bright light has a powerful attraction for them, the perfect insects would be rarely captured. {57} Specimens, when caught, except females which it may be well to keep for eggs, should be killed and pinned at once, as many kinds become very restless when imprisoned in a box and soon damage themselves. Females usually deposit their eggs freely, and in most cases the caterpillars are not difficult to rear when once they begin to feed.

Sometimes it is not easy to induce them to commence this very necessary business. The caterpillars, except those of _Phalera_ and _Pygaera_, are without hairs on the body; those of the true Prominents generally have one, or more, hump on the back; in some kinds the a.n.a.l prolegs or hind claspers, are small. When resting the hinder part of the caterpillar is more or less raised, several of them elevate the front portion also, and frequently the posture a.s.sumed is a most curious one.

The caterpillars of _Cerura_, _Dicranura_, and _Stauropus_ have the hind claspers transformed into tail-like appendages, which in the case of the Puss and Kittens take the form of a pair of slender tubes furnished with flagellae, or whips, which can be protruded or withdrawn as occasion may require. These organs are presumably for defensive purposes, but are not always effective in combating the attack of parasitical flies, as these evidently manage to deposit their egg on the caterpillars not infrequently.

The pupa, or chrysalis, of some kinds is enclosed in a hard coc.o.o.n on tree trunks, and others in a soft coc.o.o.n generally underground; sometimes, however, the coc.o.o.n is spun up between leaves; occasionally, as for example that of the Buff-tip, the chrysalis is found in the ground without any protecting covering, although the cell in which it was formed may have been flimsily lined with silk.

Nearly one hundred species are referred to this family in Staudinger's ”Catalogue of Palaearctic Lepidoptera,” and of these twenty-five occur, or have been taken, in the British Isles, nearly all of which are accepted as indigenous. Two of the {58} three species not generally regarded as true natives have been found in the caterpillar state, and the third was reared from an egg obtained with others of the same kind in Norfolk.

THE ALDER KITTEN (_Cerura bicuspis_).

This moth (Plate 22, Fig. 3) differs from either of the two next following in being whiter, and in having both margins of the central band of the fore wings angled or bent inwards above the middle; this is markedly so on the outer side. The band itself is black, inclining to purplish rather than grey. Barrett mentions a specimen without central band or cloud towards tip.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 19. COc.o.o.n OF THE ALDER KITTEN.]

According to Buckler, the caterpillar is yellow-green; head dark reddish-brown; at the back of the head commences a broad, reddish-brown blotch, which runs to a point on the back of the third segment, where is a slight elevation; on the fourth it recommences and becomes broader on each segment to the eighth, where it extends below and encloses the spiracles, thence it narrows to the tenth, continuing on the eleventh and twelfth as a broad stripe, and {59} widening on the thirteenth, where it again narrows to the tentacles; in the broad portion of this dorsal marking are faint indications of two or three orange spots; on each side it is broadly edged with pale yellow, and on the sixth, seventh, and eighth segments its margin is deeply indented. It feeds on alder and birch in July and August.

The coc.o.o.n is shown in its natural position on birch bark (Fig. 19). This was kindly lent to me for figuring by Mr. L. W. Newman, of Bexley, who also had another in which lichen as well as fragments of bark were worked into the surface, so that the coc.o.o.n was less in evidence than the one portrayed.

The moth emerges in May and June.

The first British specimen, a male, was found on alder near Preston, and was recorded by Doubleday in the _Zoologist_ for 1847. A second example was noted from the same locality in 1849. This district in Lancas.h.i.+re, and Tilgate Forest in Suss.e.x, are the chief homes in the north and the south of England respectively; but one or more specimens have occurred in Ches.h.i.+re, Herefords.h.i.+re, Oxfords.h.i.+re, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Devons.h.i.+re, and more frequently in Staffords.h.i.+re, Derbys.h.i.+re, and Yorks.h.i.+re. It does not seem to inhabit Scotland or Ireland, neither has it been recorded from Wales, so far as I can find, more than once.

The species is found in Germany, Switzerland, Eastern France, Belgium, Southern Sweden, Central Russia, Livonia, Finland, Ussuri, and a local race occurs in Amurland.

THE POPLAR KITTEN (_Cerura bifida_).

Fore wings grey, with a broad, dark grey central band, and a cloud of the same colour towards the tips of the wings; the band is inwardly margined by an almost straight black line, and outwardly by a curved line; the third line is double, and curved towards the costa, forming the inner edge of the grey cloud, the lower part is wavy. The first black line is inwardly, and {60} the second outwardly edged with ochreous, and preceding the first is a series of black dots.

The full-grown caterpillar, which is green, with a yellow-edged, purplish, irregular stripe on the back, is figured on Plate 23, together with a very young example, the purplish-black eggs as laid, and the red-brown chrysalis. The coc.o.o.n from which the chrysalis was extracted was spun up on a fairly stout twig of poplar, from which some of the bark had been torn; the coc.o.o.n was formed, as regards the upper part, on the bare twig, and this was covered with gnawed wood, instead of with bark fragments, as is the lower end. The moth is figured on Plate 22, and the early stages on Plate 23.

The moth emerges in June, sometimes in July, and may occasionally be found at rest on the trunks of poplars, on which the caterpillar feeds from July to September; also on adjacent walls or palings. The coc.o.o.ns are made up on the surface or in the c.h.i.n.ks of the bark, and may be searched for, all through the winter and early spring. It is curious to note how readily these are detected after the moth has escaped, and how difficult they are to see before that event. Usually there is but one brood in the year, but in the hot summer of 1906 a male specimen emerged from a few chrysalids that I had reared from eggs laid at the end of June of that year. On the other hand, the moth has been known to remain in the chrysalis for two winters.

The species is not uncommon in some parts of the London district, and seems to occur throughout England wherever poplars abound. It does not appear to have been found in Scotland, and is scarce in Ireland. Abroad it is found in Central Europe with a northern range to Finland, southwards to Italy and Greece, and eastwards to the Altai.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 22.

1. POPLAR KITTEN-MOTH, _male_; 2 _female_.

3. ALDER KITTEN-MOTH, _male_.

4. SALLOW KITTEN-MOTH, _male_; 5 _female_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]