Volume Ii Part 3 (1/2)

In some examples of this species (Plate 10, Figs. 4, 5) the oblique band of the fore wings is purplish, and in others red or reddish; the former are typical, and the latter are referable to ab. _ochreago_, Borkhausen. Often the band is incomplete, and sometimes it is only indicated by three more or less regular series of reddish dots (ab. _togata_, Esper). I have one example of this form from the Isle of Hoy, and another specimen from the same locality is somewhat similar, but the spots are not so well separated, and are purplish in colour.

The eggs (Plate 6, Fig. 3) are yellowish when laid, but become purplish later, and the ribs then appear whitish.

The caterpillar when young lives on catkins of the sallow, and when these fall it feeds on low-growing plants, but it will {20} eat the leaves of sallow and the seeds of wych-elm. It may be found from March to June.

The moth appears in September and October. It is widely distributed, and often common at the sugar patch, over the whole of England, Wales, Scotland up to Moray, and Ireland.

The range abroad extends to Amurland, j.a.pan, Kamtschatka, and North America.

THE SALLOW (_Xanthia fulvago_).

A typical male and female of this species are shown on Plate 10, Figs. 7, 8; Fig. 6 on the same plate represents ab. _flavescens_, Esper. Sometimes the fore wings are orange-tinged, and such examples having the typical markings well defined are referable to ab. _aurantia_, Tutt. In _cerago_, Hubner, the markings are fainter than in the type, and the orange-yellow modification of this form has been named _imperfecta_, Tutt.

The caterpillar is brown above with a tinge of red or purple, and freckled with darker; there are three pale lines along the back, but only the central one is distinct, and this is more or less interrupted by cl.u.s.ters of darker freckles; there is a darker stripe composed of freckles on the sides, and below this is a pale brownish stripe; head, brown, plate on the first ring of the body blackish with pale lines upon it. It feeds when young in sallow catkins, and later on low-growing plants, also leaves of sallow and seeds of wych-elm. Early stages are figured on Plate 6. The moth is out in September and early October. It is widely distributed, and generally common, throughout England and Wales, Scotland to Moray, and Ireland. Its range abroad extends to Amurland and j.a.pan.

NOTE.--It may be stated here that the present species, together with _aurago_, _lutea_, _fulvago_, _gilvago_, and _ocellaris_, are referred to _Cosmia_, Ochs. and Treit., by Hampson (_Cat. Lep. Phal._ vi. 497).

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 10.

1. ORANGE SALLOW.

6-8. THE SALLOW.

2, 3. BARRED SALLOW.

9, 10. DUSKY-LEMON SALLOW.

4, 5. PINK-BARRED SALLOW.

11. PALE-LEMON SALLOW.

12. ORANGE UPPER-WING.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 11.

1, 2. RED-HEADED CHESTNUT MOTH.

7-10. DARK CHESTNUT.

3-6. CHESTNUT MOTH.

11, 12. DOTTED CHESTNUT.

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THE DUSKY-LEMON SALLOW (_Mellinia_ (_Xanthia_) _gilvago_).

Two examples of this species are shown on Plate 10, Figs. 9 and 10. The purplish-brown mottling or clouding and greyish suffusion of the fore wings is much denser in some specimens than in others. Often the suffusion is quite absent, and the purplish brown is only seen as spots. Again, in an almost unicolorous form the ground colour is of a pale orange tint, the cross markings and outlines of the reniform are as in the type, and the series of blackish points on the submarginal line, usually present in the type, are more conspicuous, owing to absence of the other usual dark markings; this seems to be the _palleago_ of Hubner, which has been considered a distinct species; I think, however, that it is only a form of _gilvago_. The earliest recorded British specimen of this form was taken at Brighton in 1856, and it and others captured in the same district were then thought to be examples of _M. ocellaris_, but their true ident.i.ty was established by Doubleday in 1859. Very few specimens of this form have been reported from other parts of England, but I have recently seen one that was taken at light in the Canterbury district, Kent, on October 3, 1907. In its typical form this species has an extensive range in England, spreading from Yorks.h.i.+re to Surrey and Suss.e.x. The earliest known British specimens were captured in the neighbourhood of Doncaster over sixty years ago, but its occurrence in Surrey seems not to have been noted until comparatively recent times.

The caterpillar is pinkish grey-brown, with three paler lines and a series of purplish diamonds along the back; the sides are mottled with purplish brown above the black spiracles, and striped with ochreous grey below them.

According to Buckler, whose description is here adapted, the four pale raised dots circled with dark brown, placed within the dark marks on the back of each ring, serve to distinguish this caterpillar from its {22} allies. It feeds on the seeds of wych-elm, and may be beaten or jarred from the branches in April and May. The moth is out in the autumn.

THE PALE-LEMON SALLOW (_Mellinia_ (_Xanthia_) _ocellaris_).

Although spa.r.s.ely marked yellowish examples of the last species have been mistaken for the present one, the true _M. ocellaris_ was not known to occur in Britain until 1893, when three specimens were taken at Wimbledon and Twickenham. In 1894 a specimen was recorded from Bognor in Suss.e.x, and another in West Dulwich. The following year one specimen was taken at Richmond, Surrey, and one at Ipswich, Suffolk. Three specimens were obtained at sugar in 1899, and five others in 1900, in a locality in North Kent. Odd specimens have also been noted as follows:--Suffolk, Beccles (1898), Woodbridge (1899); West Norfolk (1904 and 1906); Cambridge (1907).

The caterpillar, which is ochreous grey with black dots, feeds on poplar, and is stated by one continental author to live in the buds and catkins when young, and afterwards on low plants. So far, it has not been detected in England.