Volume Ii Part 7 (1/2)
Sometimes the general colour is blackish. It feeds on bearberry (_Arctostaphylos_) in June and July; also said to eat _Vaccinium uliginosum_; in confinement it will thrive on _Arbutus unedo_, commonly known as the ”strawberry tree.”
The moth is out in May, when it flies in the suns.h.i.+ne, and in dull weather sits about on the rocks, stones, lichen, etc. Mr. c.o.c.kayne notes that at Rannoch he met with it from May 17 in numbers, but always in isolated spots where bearberry was plentiful. Here the moths were either feeding on the flowers or settled on the ground. He further remarks that this species occurs at the comparatively low elevation of 800 to 900 feet, whereas the next species ascends to 2000 feet.
The distribution abroad extends to Amurland and Labrador.
THE BROAD-BORDERED WHITE UNDERWING (_Anarta melanopa_).
This species has the ground colour of the fore wings greyish in the type and brownish in var. _wistromi_, Lampa. Specimens with the fore wings more or less typical, but with the normally white area of hind wings dark greyish, are referable to ab. _rupestralis._ I remember seeing a specimen of the last-named form in the collection of the late Mr. S. Stevens, but I believe that it is very rare in the British Isles. In all forms there is variation in the stigmata, and in the orbicular especially. (Plate 17, Figs. 5 [male] and 6 [female].) {46}
The caterpillar is of a purplish pink colour, with a black-edged ochreous-brown line along the middle of the back, broken up by reddish-brown triangles; the stripe along the region of the black spiracles is yellowish white flecked with red; the sides of the body above the stripe are flecked with reddish, and above them is a yellowish-white line and some black marks. Head, brownish, freckled with darker. It feeds at night, in July, on bilberry (_Vaccinium myrtillus_), cowberry (_V. vitis-idaea_), and can also be reared on strawberry tree, sallow, knotgra.s.s, etc. In the daytime it must be searched for under the leaves.
The moth is out in May and the early part of June, and is most active in the suns.h.i.+ne, but flies on dull days when the weather is warm. It seems confined to the higher level of the mountains, and its habits are similar to those of the last species, but its range extends to the Shetland Isles.
The species was not recognised as British until about 1830, and the same remark applies to _A. cordigera._
THE SMALL YELLOW UNDERWING (_Heliaca tenebrata_).
The fore wings are a little more reddish in some specimens than in others, and occasionally the yellow of the hind wings is much reduced in area by the expansion of the black border, or it may be suffused with blackish.
(Plate 17, Figs. 3 and 4.)
The caterpillar is green, with three lines along the back, the central one dark green and the others whitish, bordered below with dark green; the stripe low down along the sides is yellowish white, edged above with dark green. It feeds, in June and July, on mouse-ear chickweed (_Cerastium_), devouring the blossom and seeds, when young boring into the unripe capsule.
The moth flies on sunny days in May and early June, and is more or less common in gra.s.s-bordered lanes, hay meadows, etc., in most counties throughout the southern part of England. {47} In the midland counties it appears to be far more local, thence to Durham (its northern limit in England) it is generally scarce. It has been recorded from Pembrokes.h.i.+re and Flints.h.i.+re, in Wales. A specimen has been reported from Robroyston, near Glasgow, in Scotland. As the species has been obtained in Kerry and Sligo, the probability is that it occurs in other parts of Ireland.
THE PEASE-BLOSSOM (_Chariclea delphinii_).
The beautifully tinted moth represented by Figs. 8 and 9 on Plate 17 was known as British to Haworth (1802), but it had been figured by Wilkes in 1773, and by Moses Harris in 1775. In 1829 Stephens remarked that there were then but few native specimens in British cabinets, among which were examples from the Windsor district ”caught about fifteen years since, in June.” He adds, the interest and value of these, and older specimens, was lessened by ”the execrable practice of introducing Continental insects into collections.” Stainton (1857) refers to the Windsor specimens only, and Newman (1869) ignores the species altogether. In 1902 two specimens were presented to the British Museum by Mr. J. F. Bennett, and are now in the National Collection of British Lepidoptera. These were obtained at Brighton in 1876 by the donor's father, but whether captured or reared is not known.
THE BORDERED SALLOW (_Pyrrhia umbra_).
The fore wings of this species (Plate 17, Figs. 10, 11) in its typical form are yellow inclining to orange, with the outer area more or less tinted with purplish. In a paler form, ab. _marginata_, Fab., the fore wings are without the orange tint, and the outer area is rather greyish brown. {48}
The caterpillar (Plate 20, Fig. 4) is grey or greenish, speckled with white, and with raised black dots; there are three lines along the back, the central one white edged, broader and darker than the outer ones, which are sometimes white; a white-edged pale yellow stripe low down along the sides. In some examples the general colour is pinkish brown.
It feeds on restharrow (_Ononis_) in July and August, but can be reared on knotgra.s.s, and has been known to thrive on the green pods of the scarlet runner bean (_Phaseolus vulgaris_). The moth flies at dusk in June, sometimes earlier or later. It visits the flowers of various plants, especially those of _Silene_ and _Lychnis_; also comes to the sugar patch and may be attracted by light. Although not generally common, it seems to be widely distributed over England and Wales, but is most frequent in the seaboard counties, and this is more particularly the case in the north. In Scotland it appears to occur from Berwick northwards to Moray, and in Ireland it has been noted from several of the littoral counties, chiefly southern, but also from Sligo.
The range abroad extends to the North-west Himalayas, Amurland, Corea, and j.a.pan; the species also occurs in North America from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains.
THE MARBLED CLOVER (_Heliothis dipsacea_).
The ground colour of this species (Plate 19, Figs. 1, 2) ranges from yellowish to ochreous with a greyish, or olive, tinge; the central band including the reniform stigma is olive, or reddish brown, terminating on the inner margin in a cloud extending towards the hind margin; submarginal line preceded by a shade-like band similar in colour to the central one, but often only well defined on costal and inner margins; the whitish area of the hind wings is sometimes much reduced. The darker specimens are typical of the species, whilst those with the paler ground colour and brighter cross bands are referable to var. _maritima_, Grasl.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
2 Pl. 18.
1. MULLEIN: _caterpillar_.
2. STRIPED LYCHNIS: _caterpillar_.
3, 3a. STARWORT: _caterpillar and chrysalis_.
4. CHAMOMILE SHARK: _chrysalis and coc.o.o.n_.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
2 Pl. 19.