Volume I Part 41 (1/2)

THE MARSH MOTH (_Hydrilla pal.u.s.tris_).

The fore wings of the male of this species (Plate 153, Fig. 2) are greyish brown in colour, and more or less tinged with violet; the cross lines are dusky, and the reniform and orbicular stigmata are represented by black dots, the former the larger; hind wings whitish with a smoky tinge. The female is much smaller, darker, and the cross lines heavier; hind wings blackish grey.

Stainton (”Manual,” 1857) refers to a specimen taken at Compton's Wood, near York, and this, no doubt, is the same as {322} that stated by Barrett to have been captured in a moist place at Stockton-in-the-Forest, about four miles from York, certainly before the year 1855. Then there is a record of a specimen from Quy Fen, Cambridges.h.i.+re, in May, 1862. Seven years later the late Mr. C. G. Barrett took a specimen as it fluttered about a gas-lamp outside Norwich. In 1877 and 1878 the use of bright collecting lanterns in Wicken Fen may have led to the capture of nearly twenty Marsh Moths, anyway it seems to have been a record for the time.

Very few specimens were taken in the fens between the year last mentioned and 1898, when the total secured by several collectors visiting the fens in June of that year amounted to something like fifty examples, all males. Two female specimens were captured in the Carlisle district, one in 1896, and the other in 1897. No male was noted in that locality until 1899, when a specimen was netted as it flew along a hedgeside at night, on May 20. Two other males have since been taken there, in much the same way. The life history of the species is little known. Hofmann describes the caterpillar as reddish brown with white dots, and a white line along the middle of the back; spiracles and head black. It feeds in the summer on low-growing plants in meadows, and hides in the daytime on the underside of a leaf.

The range of the species abroad extends to Siberia and Amurland.

THE BROWN RUSTIC (_Rusina tenebrosa_).

Here, again, the female is smaller than the male, as will be seen on Plate 153, Figs. 4 [male], 5 [female]. Sometimes the general colour of the fore wings is of a blacker tint, and in such specimens the fine black cross lines are obscured.

The caterpillar is dark cinnamon brown; three whitish lines on the back, the central one, most distinct on the front rings, is edged on each side with dark brown, and the shading of the outer lines is interrupted by oblique pale dashes; head, s.h.i.+ning dark brown, almost blackish. It feeds on gra.s.ses, and many low-growing plants from August to May. (Plate 152, Fig.

4.) The moth flies in June and July, sometimes earlier. The species is generally distributed over nearly the whole of England, but more local in the north than in the south. It is found in North and South Wales. In Scotland it is locally abundant and widely distributed up to Ross, and occurs in the Hebrides. It is also widely spread in Ireland, and common in some parts.

_Umbratica_, Goeze, is said to be an earlier name for this species, and will probably have to be adopted.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 156.

1, 1a, 1b. HEBREW CHARACTER: _eggs, caterpillars and chrysalis_.

2, 2a. CLOUDED DRAB: _caterpillars and chrysalis_.

3. MOUSE MOTH: _caterpillar_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pl. 157.

1-6. CLOUDED DRAB MOTH.

7, 8. LEAD-COLOURED DRAB MOTH.

9, 10. NORTHERN DRAB.

{323} THE COPPER UNDERWING (_Amphipyra pyramidea_).

The striking species shown on Plate 154, Figs. 1 to 3, varies somewhat in the tint of its brown-coloured fore wings, and in the greater or lesser amount of blackish shading on the central area; the latter is sometimes quite absent, and not infrequently the outer marginal area is pale ochreous brown. The hind wings, normally of a coppery colour, are occasionally paler, and sometimes of a reddish hue.

The caterpillar is green with three interrupted whitish stripes on the back; the dots are yellowish; and the stripe along the black-edged white spiracles is whitish; the back of ring eleven is raised, forming a cone, the apex of which is hornlike and slightly curved backwards; the head is green. It feeds from April, or in forward seasons from March, to June, on the foliage of oak, birch, sallow, plum, rose, and other trees and shrubs.

The moth flies from late July to September, and sometimes later. Although somewhat local in Southern England, it is often common enough in the New Forest, and most of the larger woods from Ess.e.x to Devons.h.i.+re. Northwards from Oxfords.h.i.+re it becomes more local, less frequent, and even rare, {324} except, perhaps, in Worcesters.h.i.+re (Malvern district, common) and Herefords.h.i.+re. Apparently not recorded from Scotland. In Ireland it is sometimes plentiful in the south, but does not seem to occur north of Sligo on the west, and Howth on the east.

THE MOUSE (_Amphipyra tragopogonis_).

The English name of this generally distributed, and usually common, greyish-brown moth (Plate 154, Figs. 4, 5) applies more especially to the mouse-like way it scuttles off when discovered in its retreat by the collector. In colour, however, it is sometimes not unlike the familiar little rodent. The caterpillar (Plate 156, Fig. 3) is green with white lines and stripes along the back and sides; spiracles white, margined with black; head yellowish-green. In another form the ground colour is pale reddish brown. It feeds from April to June on sallow, hawthorn, and many other plants. Barrett states that it is partial to the blossoms, particularly yellow ones, of garden as well as wild plants. The moth flies in July and August, sometimes later.

The range abroad extends to Central Asia and to the Atlantic States of America.

NOTE.--Some recent authors refer this and the preceding species to _Pyrophila_, Hubn.

THE PINE BEAUTY (_Panolis griseo-variegata_ = _piniperda_).