Volume Ii Part 30 (1/2)

{195}

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 4.

GARDEN CARPET AT REST.

(Photo by H. Main.)]

The caterpillar varies in colour from dark grey through yellowish green to obscure green, but the underside is always paler; on the back there is a series of pale blotches, and some black spots on the middle rings; the head is rather paler than the general colour, and marked with black. It feeds, at night, on cabbage, horseradish, wallflower, white arabis, and many other kinds of Cruciferae; and it is said to eat the foliage of gooseberry and currant. June--October.

There are certainly two broods, and possibly more, as the moths occur in greater or lesser numbers throughout the year, from late April to October, but it seems to be most plentiful in May and June, and in August and September.

Generally distributed over the British Isles. It is also an inhabitant of North America.

THE GALIUM CARPET (_Xanthorhoe galiata_).

The more usual forms of this species are represented on Plate 81, Figs. 1, 2. Fig. 3 is the portrait of a form occurring in Yorks.h.i.+re, Suss.e.x, and probably elsewhere, in which the central band is blackish and solid-looking; this seems to be referable to _unilobata_, Haworth. Besides varying in tint of ground colour, and in the amount of freckling or mottling, there is modification in the width of the central band.

The caterpillar is brown, dotted with black, and striped with blackish brown on the back, and with pale brown on the sides; the head is light brown, sprinkled with black, and marked with {196} a dark V. It feeds on bedstraw in late June and July, and there is a second brood in August and September. The figure of the caterpillar on Plate 79, Fig. 3, is from a coloured drawing by Mr. A. Sich.

The moth is out in June, sometimes later in the north and earlier in the south, where it occurs as a second generation in August. It is chiefly found in chalk and limestone districts, and may be easily put up from the herbage among which it secretes itself during the day. In the seaboard counties of England, from Kent to Cornwall, it is especially common on the coast, but is also to be met with in suitable inland localities in these counties, and also in Surrey, Middles.e.x, Herts, Bucks., and Oxford. It is always rare on the eastern side, but on the west, including Wales, it is more or less frequent from Somerset and Wilts. to Westmorland. Not uncommon in Yorks.h.i.+re, princ.i.p.ally in the West Riding, and an odd specimen has been recorded from Durham. Somewhat rare in Scotland, but it has been noted in Berwick, Wigtown, Arran, Clydesdale, and Perths.h.i.+re. In Ireland it is local, although often plentiful on the coast.

Abroad, the range extends to Eastern Siberia.

WOOD CARPET (_Xanthorhoe (Epirrhoe) rivata_).

The broad, clear white borders of both edges of the dark central band of the fore wings, coupled with the clearer white of the hind wings, and the generally larger size of the moth, should distinguish this species from its very close ally, _X. sociata_; but it must be added that some forms of the latter species approach the present one exceedingly close. (Plate 81, Figs.

4, 5.)

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 80.

1-4. GREY MOUNTAIN CARPET.

5, 6. YELLOW-RINGED CARPET.

7-10. SILVER-GROUND CARPET.

11-14. GARDEN CARPET.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 81.

1-3. GALIUM CARPET.

4, 5. WOOD CARPET.

6-9. COMMON CARPET.

10-12. SMALL ARGENT AND SABLE.

{197} The caterpillar is brown or olive-brown, dotted and freckled with white; three lines on the back, the central one black, the others whitish, not seen on rings 5-8, which have dark V-shaped marks enclosing white ones; sometimes there is a V-mark instead of lines on ring 4; head, large, pale brown sprinkled with blackish, and marked with a blackish V, the apex of which appears to meet the central line of the body. It feeds, at night, in July and August, on bedstraw (_Galium mollugo_, and _G. verum_), but will thrive very well on cleavers or goose-gra.s.s (_G. aparine_). The chrysalis, which is enclosed in a coc.o.o.n of silk coated with earth, is reddish brown, thorax and wing-cases paler, s.h.i.+ning. A coloured drawing of the caterpillar, kindly lent, with others, for this volume, by Mr. A. Sich, has been used for the figures on Plate 79, Figs. 2, 2a; but the description of the caterpillar, and also of the chrysalis (Fig. 2b), are from material that Mr. Pope, of Exeter, was good enough to furnish. In captivity a second brood may be reared in August.