Volume Ii Part 24 (1/2)

At one time considered to be a purely northern species: the earliest known British specimens, four in number, having been captured at Petty Pool, Delamere, Ches.h.i.+re, on October 31, 1848. It is now known, however, to have a wide distribution in the south of England. Northwards, its range extends throughout England and Scotland up to Moray. It is found in South Wales; also in Galway, Monaghan, and Connemara, in Ireland.

THE TISSUE (_Triphosa dubitata_).

The fore wings of this glossy species (Plate 60, Figs. 1, 2) are pale brown, tinged more or less strongly with rosy or purplish; there are numerous darker and paler cross lines, the most distinct and constant being the blackish basal, and the two forming the edges of the central band; the latter are marked with black; the submarginal line is whitish, wavy, and sometimes broken up into dots. The species varies considerably in tint, some specimens inclining to pale greyish brown, others to smoky brown. Hind wings, whitish grey, with several darker grey cross lines; in dark specimens these wings are smoky grey. Ab. _cinereata_, Stephens, is a small pale greyish form, almost without rosy tinge and with fewer cross lines.

The caterpillar (Plate 62, Fig. 1) is yellowish green with {159} darker green stripes and lines. In another form there are four pale yellowish lines along the back and a yellow stripe low down along the sides. It feeds on buckthorn (_Rhamnus_), the leaves of which it fastens together with silk, and so forms a retreat. It will also eat sloe and bird-cherry (_Prunus padus_).

The moth is out in August and through the autumn, when it sometimes visits the flowers of ivy, ragwort, etc.; after hibernation it is again seen, perhaps even more frequently, in April and May, and is then occasionally found at sallow catkins. The species seems to have been noted from nearly all the English counties, but becomes rare from Yorks.h.i.+re northwards. In Wales, and in Ireland, it is apparently widely distributed, but in Scotland it seems confined to southern localities, and is only rarely met with.

Abroad, the distribution spreads to Amurland, China, and j.a.pan.

THE SCARCE TISSUE (_Eucosmia_ (_Calocalpe_) _certata_).

This species is very similar to the last, but the wings are not glossy, only reddish on the outer margin, and the black marked lines edging the central band of the fore wings are less irregular, the inner ones usually being much straighter. On the under side of the hind wings of the male is a fold enclosing hairs; this is on the inner margin, just above the a.n.a.l angle. (Plate 60, Fig. 3 [female].)

The thickset caterpillar (Plate 62, Fig. 3, after Hofmann) is greyish inclining to greenish; four white lines along the back, the central pair enclosing a dark line, the others are bordered below with dark greyish; the black spiracles are set in yellowish blotches, and the plates on first and last rings are brown; head, reddish-brown, glossy (adapted from Fenn). It feeds on the barberry (_Berberis vulgaris_) and the holly-leaved barberry (_B. aquifolium_) grown in gardens, in June and July. The moth {160} is out in May and June, but in favourable seasons has appeared in late April. When on the wing at night it is freely attracted by light, but otherwise not often noticed. The species has occurred in many of the English counties from Devon to Durham, but it seems to be only common in the eastern counties, and most frequent perhaps in Suffolk. It has been recorded from South Wales, but is seemingly absent from Ireland.

The range abroad extends to Amurland.

THE SCALLOP Sh.e.l.l (_Eucosmia undulata_).

Wings pale greyish, sometimes ochreous tinted, and crossed by numerous dark-grey wavy lines inclining to blackish on the front margin of the fore wings; the waves of the central pair of lines on the fore wings often meet and so form a series of rings; sometimes the s.p.a.ce between the eighth and twelfth lines is of a dusky hue, and occasionally it is distinctly darker and band-like; the outer margin of all the wings is brownish and traversed by a wavy white line. The male has tufts of blackish hair in a fold on the inner margin of the hind wing, this is noticeable on the upper side, but is best seen from the under side. (Plate 60, Figs. 4 [male], 5 [female].)

The somewhat dumpy caterpillar is reddish-brown with four yellowish lines along the back; a greyish stripe along the sides, and a creamy stripe along the black spiracles; head, pale brown and glossy. It feeds on sallow, aspen, and bilberry, and may be found from August throughout the autumn in spun-together leaves at the tips of the shoots. (Plate 62, Fig. 2.)

The moth is out in June and July, and occurs in woods where there is a good growth of bilberry, or in marshy spots where sallow bushes abound.

In England the species is widely distributed over the southern and eastern counties; its range extends through the Midlands to Ches.h.i.+re, Lancs., and Westmorland, rarely in Lincoln and Yorks., and once recorded in Durham; it occurs in Wales and in Scotland, but only in the more southern part of each country. It is not plentiful in Ireland, but widely distributed. The range abroad includes Amurland.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 60.

1, 2. THE TISSUE.

3. SCARCE TISSUE.

4, 5. THE SCALLOP Sh.e.l.l.

6. THE BROWN SCALLOP.

7, 8. THE DARK UMBER.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 61.

1. NETTED CARPET.

2. SPECKLED YELLOW, VAR.

3. DOTTED BORDER WAVE (AB. _CIRCELLATA_).

4. GARDEN CARPET (AB. _COSTOVATA_).

5, 6. YELLOW Sh.e.l.l, ABERRANT FORMS.

7. TAWNY-BARRED ANGLE (AB. _NIGROFULVATA_).

8, 9. BROKEN-BARRED CARPET, SCOTTISH FORM.