Volume Ii Part 34 (1/2)
This pale ochreous brown species (Plate 91) is in the male (Fig. 1) more or less sprinkled and shaded with darker brown, and the three brown cross lines are consequently often obscure, and rarely as distinct as in the female (Fig. 3).
The green caterpillar has a yellow line running down the middle of a black stripe along the back, and this stripe is {220} bordered on each side with yellow, and broken up by the yellow ring divisions; head, with a black spot on each side. It feeds, in July and August, on alder.
The moth is out in June and early July, and will be found in almost every locality in England where the alder flourishes, most plentifully, perhaps, on the eastern and western sides. It has been recorded from North and South Wales, but it does not seem to have been noted from Ireland or Scotland.
The range abroad extends to Amurland and j.a.pan.
SMALL WHITE WAVE (_Asthena candidata_).
The delicately lined white moth shown on Plate 91, Figs. 5 [male] and 6 [female], is chiefly a woodland species. It is generally common in the south of England, occurs more or less frequently throughout the northern half, and is widely distributed in Wales. In Scotland, it is said to be locally common in Clydesdale, and to be found in Arran and in Perths.h.i.+re.
It is plentiful at Dromoland, co. Clare, Ireland, not uncommon in parts of Galway, and once recorded from Wicklow.
The caterpillar is found, in July and August, on birch, hazel, and wild rose. In general colour it is green, inclining to bluish at each end, and tinged with yellowish along the ridge on the sides; the back is marked with crimson. (Plate 90, Fig. 2, after Hofmann.)
The moth is out in May and June, and sometimes July, and individuals of a second generation occasionally appear in August or September.
SMALL YELLOW WAVE (_Asthena luteata_).
This pretty little species (Plate 91, Figs. 2 and 4) has the pale yellowish wings marked with ochreous brown lines, which vary in thickness, and a dash of the same colour on the fore wings, from the central pair of lines to the middle of the outer margin.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
2 Pl. 92.
1. GREY PUG: _egg and caterpillar_.
2. LIME SPECK PUG: _caterpillars_.
3. COMMON PUG: _caterpillar_.
4. NETTED PUG: _caterpillar_.
5. WHITE-SPOTTED PUG: _caterpillar_.
6. CURRANT PUG: _caterpillar_.
7. BORDERED PUG: _chrysalids_.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
2 Pl. 93.
1, 4. LIME SPECK PUG.
2, 5, 8, 11. NETTED PUG.
7, 10. FOXGLOVE PUG.
3, 6. TOADFLAX PUG.
9. MARBLED PUG.
12. DWARF PUG.
{221} The caterpillar, which feeds in August and September, on maple, and in the northern counties on alder, is green, inclining to whitish between the rings.
The moth is out in June and early July, sometimes from mid May in warm localities. It is widely distributed over England and Wales, and in the southern counties of England it occurs in hedges wherever the maple grows, but in the midlands and northwards it is chiefly found among alder. In Scotland it is local and rare in Clydesdale, and is known to occur in Perths.h.i.+re.