Volume Ii Part 36 (1/2)
1. OCHREOUS PUG.
2. PINION-SPOTTED PUG.
3, 4. EDINBURGH PUG.
5-8. SATYR PUG.
9. WHITE-SPOTTED PUG, VAR. _ANGELICATA_.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
2 Pl. 97.
1. WHITE-SPOTTED PUG.
2, 5. BORDERED PUG.
3. LARCH PUG.
4, 7. COMMON PUG.
6. GREY PUG.
8, 11. TAWNY SPECKLED PUG.
9. PLAIN PUG.
10. GOLDEN-ROD PUG.
12. SCARCE PUG.
13. TRIPLE-SPOTTED PUG.
14. SHADED PUG.
{231} The rather slender caterpillar, figured on Plate 92, Fig. 6, from a coloured drawing by Mr. A. Sich, is yellowish green, inclining to yellow between the rings; three darker green lines on the back, the central one most distinct, the others rather broad and not well defined; sometimes the central line is tinged with brown, as also is the front edge of each ring.
It feeds on currant and hop, and is said to eat the leaves of gooseberry also. The first brood is in June and July, and the second in the autumn.
The moth is out in May and June and in August. It frequents gardens, and hides among the foliage, or occasionally sits on walls or palings; from hedges where the wild hop grows freely it may be beaten out in the daytime, but it flies in the twilight, sometimes in numbers, around the hop bines.
Widely distributed over England, Wales, and Scotland up to Ross; in Ireland it has been noted from Tyrone, Dublin, Cork, Galway, and Sligo.
WORMWOOD PUG (_Eupithecia absinthiata_).
The fore wings are reddish or purplish brown; cross lines indistinct, but represented on the front edge by black marks; discal dot black, submarginal line whitish interrupted, often indistinct, except above the inner margin (Plate 95, Figs. 3, 6, 10). The short, stout, and roughened caterpillar varies in colour, and may be yellowish green, deep rose colour, or dirty reddish brown; a series of lozenge-shaped reddish spots on the back, faint towards each end (often absent in green forms); oblique yellow stripes on the sides form borders to the marks on the back (adapted from Crewe). It feeds, in the autumn, on the flowers of ragwort, golden rod, aster, yarrow, hemp agrimony, etc. The moth is out in June and July.
The species is generally common in the south of England, and is widely distributed over the rest of that country, Wales, and Ireland. In Scotland its range extends to Moray.
Abroad, the distribution spreads to Amurland.
LING PUG (_Eupithecia goossensiata_).
The fore wings are rather narrower and more pointed at the tips than those of the last species; the ground colour of the fore wings is of a paler reddish brown, and frequently tinged {232} with greyish; the hind wings are usually greyish-brown (Plate 95, Figs. 2, 12). The caterpillar, which feeds in August and September on the flowers of heath (_Erica_), and ling (_Calluna_), is pinkish with dusky marks on the back, most distinct on the middle rings; a yellowish line low down along the side has dusky marks upon it; head, dusky olive, marked with white (adapted from Crewe).
It may be mentioned here, that _knautiata_, Gregson, which was described as a distinct species, is by some authorities considered to be a form of this species, whilst others refer it to _absinthiata_. The caterpillar is stouter than that of _goossensiata_, varies in colour from whitish to green, and even purplish-brown, but not to pinkish; it feeds on the flowers and seeds of _Knautia arvensis_. The moth is out in June and July, and occurs on heaths and moors throughout England, Wales, and Ireland. In Scotland, it is obtained freely in some parts of the south, and its range extends to the Orkneys.
This species is the minutata of Guenee and other authors, but this name, being a synonym of _absinthiata_, will have to be discarded in favour of _goossensiata_, Mabille (1869).
CAMPANULA PUG (_Eupithecia denotata_).
The faint reddish tinged pale-brown fore wings distinguish this species (Plate 95, Fig. 5). The blackish marks on the front edge are minute, the cross lines are usually indistinct and often absent; the discal spot, however, is black and conspicuous, and the whitish submarginal line is very wavy. In general colour, the caterpillar is pale brownish; lines and marks on the back, dark brown or blackish. It feeds on the seeds of the nettle-leaved bell-flower (_Campanula trachelium_), and may be reared on the flowers of the various kinds of _Campanula_ grown in gardens: August and early September. {233} The moth is out in July, but is rarely seen in a state of nature. Caterpillars, however, are not uncommon, where the food plant is plentiful, in several of the English counties from Worcesters.h.i.+re southwards to Kent and Cornwall; also in Norfolk.
This species is the _campanulata_ of most British authors.
JASIONE PUG (_Eupithecia jasioneata_).
Except that the ground colour inclines to dark greyish brown, and the cross markings are rather more in evidence, this species is somewhat similar to that last mentioned, pale specimens especially (Plate 95, Figs. 8, 11). The caterpillar feeds in the seed heads of sheep's bit (_Jasione montana_), is very like that of _denotata_ (_campanulata_), and occurs in the same months. Possibly this insect, which is regarded as purely British, may eventually be reduced to varietal rank. As pointed out by Mr. Prout, it is in its paler form not easily separable from _atraria_, Herrich-Schaeffer, a mountain form of _denotata_, Hubner. Whether species or variety, it is equally interesting to the student of British Lepidoptera from the fact that, up to the year 1878, it seems to have been unknown to entomologists.