Volume I Part 8 (1/2)
Besides the specimens mentioned above, a caterpillar, which subsequently died, was beaten from alder in the Exeter district in 1870; another was obtained from hazel in Gloucesters.h.i.+re, but this was ”ichneumoned.” Then there is a record of a moth or caterpillar, presumably the former, occurring in the neighbourhood of Paisley; and there is a report that a caterpillar was once found at the base of an aspen growing on Clapham Common. A specimen was taken at electric light at Bedford, May, 1907.
The caterpillar is green, with three reddish humps on the back, and an interrupted reddish line along the sides. It feeds on poplar in July and August.
THE LARGE DARK PROMINENT (_Notodonta tritophus_ = _torva_).
Another Central European species, of which only one specimen is known to have occurred in Britain. This was reared from an egg, or from a caterpillar, obtained in Norfolk in the latter part of the summer of 1882.
The moth might be mistaken for a small dark coloured specimen of the next species (_N. trepida_), but the dark hindwings readily distinguish it (Plate 31, Fig. 4).
The caterpillar, although darker, bears considerable resemblance to that of the Pebble Prominent; it feeds in June and July, and also in September, on aspen.
According to Staudinger this species is the _tritophus_ of Esper, an earlier name than _torva_, Hubn.; whilst the preceding species, that has so long been referred to _tritophus_, Fabricius (or _trilophus_), is found to be _phoebe_, Siebert, which name has seventeen years' priority. {74}
THE GREAT PROMINENT (_Notodonta trepida_).
Fore wings greyish, or ochreous grey, with dark cross lines; a blackish tuft from middle of inner margin, and a series of dark, or sometimes reddish, spots on a pale cross line before the inner margin. Hind wings whitish, sometimes ochreous tinged; clouded with greyish on costal area (Plate 31, Fig. 5). When full grown the caterpillar is rather larger than the one figured on Plate 30. In colour it is green, with yellow lines along the back, seven reddish-edged yellow oblique streaks on the sides, and a reddish tinged stripe on the two rings nearest the head. It is stated to a.s.sume a purplish tint when quite mature. May be found from end of June to early August on oak. The dark reddish brown chrysalis, which is enclosed in an earth-covered coc.o.o.n, may be found at the roots of oak trees in the autumn or winter.
The moth emerges between late April and early June, sometimes remaining in the chrysalis for two winters. Light attracts it freely, and it is frequently seen in the illuminated moth trap, and may be occasionally noted on the iron frame of a gas lamp in suitable places. Sometimes the moth is met with in the daytime, resting on the trunks or branches of oak trees in woods, or on palings adjacent thereto. When such specimens happen to be females, they should be kept for eggs, which they lay freely.
It occurs in most of the southern counties of England, is somewhat rare in the Midlands, and scarce in the northern counties and in Scotland. Recorded by Birchall as ”not uncommon in Co. Wicklow,” but Kane (”Cat. Lep.
Ireland”) states that he has no information concerning its occurrence in the sister island. Distributed throughout Central Europe, extending into Spain, Italy, and Corsica; also to South-east Russia, Armenia, and possibly Ussuri. {75}
THE WHITE PROMINENT (_Leucodonta bicoloria_).
The glossy white moth, prettily marked with orange and black, shown on Plate 33, was not known to inhabit the British Isles until 1858 when Bonchard obtained one specimen in a large birch wood in the Killarney district, Ireland; in the following year he took a second specimen. Both captures were made in the month of June. In June, 1861, one example of the moth was found in Burnt Wood, Staffords.h.i.+re; and in the same wood, June, 1865, no fewer than six specimens were secured, and eggs obtained from one of the females. The caterpillars duly hatched out, but most of them were lost, only seven attaining the moth state. Kane states that in 1866 a specimen was taken in Mucross demesne, and caterpillars ”were said also to have been beaten.” Miss Vernon of Clontarf showed him her collection of insects from Kerry, and he found therein two rather poor specimens of the White Prominent from a new locality in Kerry. Barrett mentions the capture, in 1880, of a specimen near Exeter, Devons.h.i.+re. From the foregoing, which comprises all that appears to be definitely known about British _L.
bicoloria_, it will be gathered that the species is not only very local, but exceedingly rare.
The caterpillar, figured on Plate 32, from a coloured drawing by Mr. A.
Sich, is pale yellowish green, rather whiter on the upper surface; the lines are green, the central one darkest; the stripe along the spiracles is yellow edged with green. It feeds on birch in July; and changes in due course to a dark reddish brown chrysalis, which is enclosed in a compact silken coc.o.o.n spun up between leaves. The moth emerges in May or June.
Abroad the species seems to be generally distributed in Central Europe, and is also found in the Ural, Amurland, Ussuri, and j.a.pan. {76}
THE MAPLE PROMINENT (_Lophopteryx cuculla_).
To Donovan and the entomologists of his time this moth (Plate 33, Fig. 4) was known by the English name still in use, Stephens considered it a rare insect, and remarks that he once caught a specimen at Darenth Wood, by ”mothing,” in June, 1820; several other examples had been taken in the same place, and in the neighbouring woods. Although many more localities are now known for the moth, it still continues to be rather a scarce species. It appears to inhabit woods on a chalky soil almost exclusively, and is found less uncommonly in the woods of Buckinghams.h.i.+re than in its other haunts in Berks.h.i.+re, Oxfords.h.i.+re, Kent, Suss.e.x, Devons.h.i.+re, Ess.e.x, Cambridges.h.i.+re, Suffolk, and Norfolk. The bulk of the specimens in collections were probably reared from the egg, or from caterpillars obtained by beating or searching the maple bushes growing in the woods frequented by the moth.
The caterpillar is whitish green, rather glossy, with a dark green line along the middle of the back, which is broadest on the front rings, and a pale yellow stripe on the sides, the latter edged above with pale green; spiracles pinkish edged with black; a hump on the eleventh ring is purplish tinted. Head pale ochreous brown marked with reddish brown. Sometimes the general colour is yellowish or pinkish ochreous. May be found in June and July on maple (_Acer campestris_) and in confinement will feed very well on sycamore (_A. pseudoplata.n.u.s_). The moth usually emerges in May or June, but in 1901 Mr. Adkin reared ten moths, July 24 to 31, from eggs deposited in the spring of that year. The species does not seem to be a common one even abroad; its range extends through Central Europe to Italy and Sicily, and it is also found in Ussuri.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Pl. 30.
1, 1a, 1b. PEBBLE PROMINENT: _egg, caterpillar and chrysalis_.
2, 2a, 2b, 2c. IRON PROMINENT: _eggs, caterpillar, chrysalis and coc.o.o.n_.
3, 3a. GREAT PROMINENT: _caterpillar and chrysalis_.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Pl. 31.
1. IRON PROMINENT.
2. PEBBLE PROMINENT.
3. THREE HUMPED MOTH.
4. LARGE DARK PROMINENT.
5. GREAT PROMINENT.