Volume I Part 11 (1/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 40.

1. DARK TUSSOCK MOTH, _male_; 2 _female_.

3. SCARCE VAPOURER, _male_; 5 _female_.

4. VAPOURER, _male_; 6 _female_.

7. PALE TUSSOCK, _male_; 8 _female_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 41.

1, 1a. SCARCE VAPOURER: _caterpillar and coc.o.o.n_.

2, 2a. COMMON VAPOURER: _egg-batch on coc.o.o.n and enlarged egg_.

3, 3a, 3b, 3c. PALE TUSSOCK: _egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and coc.o.o.n_.

4. DARK TUSSOCK: _caterpillar_.

{97} Generally distributed throughout the United Kingdom, but not so common in Ireland as in England and Scotland. It is quite a c.o.c.kney insect, and is found in almost every part of the Metropolis where there are a few trees.

Occurs practically over the whole of Europe, and in North-east Asia Minor, Armenia, Siberia, Amurland, and North America.

THE DARK TUSSOCK (_Dasychira fascelina_).

The figures of the s.e.xes of this species on Plate 40 represent the dark grey form. Sometimes the forewings are whitish grey and occasionally slaty grey; the cross lines may be stronger or fainter, and in some specimens are nearly absent; the yellowish colour usually seen on the cross lines may be missing, or, on the other hand, other parts of the wings may be stippled with yellowish. Laying her eggs in batches, the female carefully covers them with dark brown hairs from the tuft at the end of her body.

The caterpillar (Plate 41, Fig. 4) is blackish, with star-like tufts of hairs, yellow, mixed with longer blackish ones towards the head and tail, brownish grey on the middle portion; a brush of black hairs on rings four, five, and eleven, and of white hairs on six, seven, and eight. Head black.

When full grown (Plate 42, Fig. 3) the hairs of the body are greyish, and those of the brushes on the back are black flanked with white. When disturbed it rolls in a ring. It feeds on hawthorn, and various species of _Salix_, also on broom and ling. It hibernates when still small, in a silken coc.o.o.n-like envelope which it spins in the fork of a branch, or among the twigs of a bush; growth is completed in April or May, and the winged state attained in {98} June or July. Sometimes the young caterpillars have been found in their winter quarters about the middle of July, and this would seem to imply that they occasionally lie dormant for two winters; at least this would appear to be so in Scotland whence such individuals have been recorded, with the additional information that they did not eat through the summer and that one was still alive in the following March. The chrysalis is glossy black, and hairy (Plate 42, Fig.

3a).

This is chiefly a northern insect, occurring most commonly on the Ches.h.i.+re, Lancas.h.i.+re, and c.u.mberland coast. It is more generally distributed in Scotland and is often abundant on the moorlands. In Ireland three caterpillars were found by Mr. Kane in the Bog of Allen, and the species has also been recorded from Tullamore and Mullingar. Distribution: Northern and Central Europe, extending to the Altai.

THE PALE TUSSOCK (_Dasychira pudibunda_).

This moth is much commoner and more widely distributed in England than that last mentioned. The central area of the greyish white fore wings is subject to variation in width and also in tint; this latter may be darker or lighter than the example shown on Plate 40, and the cross lines are in some specimens black and very distinct. The colour of the female ranges from pale greyish white through various tones of grey, and the bands on the hind wings may be as well defined as in the male. Black males of the species have been recorded.

The hairy caterpillar is green or yellow, the former mottled with whitish and the latter with greenish; on rings 4 to 7 are thick brushes of yellow hairs, and on ring 11 there is a tuft of reddish hair; the back is marked with black between the brushes, and there are black spots on the sides of the hind rings. Sometimes the caterpillar is light or dark brownish and the brushes are then greyish, or tinged with pale reddish or blackish.

Altogether it is a pretty creature, and as it is, or was previous to the modern ”was.h.i.+ng,” common in hop gardens at picking time, it was christened the ”hop dog.” It may be found from July to September on the foliage of birch, hazel, oak, and many other trees, as well as on hop. The moth appears in May and June, and rests by day on herbage, especially on bracken in woods (see Fig. 6, p. 7); at night it comes readily to light, but specimens so obtained are generally of the female s.e.x.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 42.

1, 1a. YELLOW-TAIL: _caterpillars_.

2. BROWN-TAIL: _caterpillar_.

3, 3a. DARK TUSSOCK: _caterpillar and chrysalis_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 43.

1. BROWN-TAIL MOTH, _male_; 2 _female_.