Volume Ii Part 39 (1/2)

The long, thin, caterpillar, which feeds on ling or heather in the autumn, is whitish with a greenish tinge: the sides are marked with red, and there are some reddish spots on the back.

On almost all heather-clad ground throughout the British Isles, this pretty little moth will be found, more or less commonly, during the months of May and early June, and sometimes there is a second flight in July and August.

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BRINDLED PUG (_Eupithecia abbreviata_).

The ochreous grey fore wings of this species (Plate 99, Fig. 3) are crossed by dark, bent lines, and marked with black on the veins; the central area is sometimes whitish, and generally paler than the ground colour.

Caterpillar, slender, ochreous brown in colour, with browner lines and redder V-shaped marks on the back. It feeds on oak, in June and July. The moth is not uncommon in oak woods, in April and May, and may be beaten from the boughs in the daytime, and not infrequently found resting on the trunks. Generally distributed, but in Scotland not noted north of Perths.h.i.+re.

OAK-TREE PUG (_Eupithecia dodoneata_).

This species (Plate 99, Fig. 5) differs from the last in being smaller, paler in colour, more distinctly marked, and with a rather larger and more conspicuous discal spot.

The caterpillar feeds, in June and July, on young leaves of oak, the flowers of the evergreen oak (_Quercus ilex_), and hawthorn. It is orange, or ochreous red, with blackish marks connected by a line of the same colour along the back, and yellowish stripes and lines on the sides.

The moth is out in May and early June, and occurs in some of the woods in most of the southern counties of England, and on the west to Worcesters.h.i.+re. It has been recorded from Yorks. and c.u.mberland; from Glamorgans.h.i.+re, South Wales; and from counties Armagh, Dublin, Wicklow, and Sligo, in Ireland.

MOTTLED PUG (_Eupithecia exiguata_).

In some respects this species (Plate 99, Fig. 4) is not unlike _E.

abbreviata_, but the general colour of the fore wings is pale grey inclining to brownish; a good character is the blackish {249} band before the submarginal line, which is interrupted by patches of the ground colour, one above, and the other below, the middle; the submarginal line is whitish towards the inner margin.

Caterpillar, long and thin; dark green; a series of yellow dotted reddish marks on the back, and a yellow-edged reddish line low down along the sides. It feeds, in the autumn, on hawthorn, sloe, currant, sallow, ash, etc.

The moth is out in May and June, and is sometimes seen at rest on the stems and branches of trees, fences, etc., and may be beaten out of hedgerows.

Widely distributed throughout England, Wales, Scotland to Perths.h.i.+re, and Ireland.

JUNIPER PUG (_Eupithecia sobrinata_).

Two specimens are shown on Plate 99: Fig. 6 represents a more or less typical example from the Surrey downs, and Fig. 7 a pale form from Forres in Scotland. The species varies in tint of ground colour, and in the strength of marking, in all its localities; but in Scotland there is a greater tendency to pale forms than in England. Mr. H. McArthur, during the present year, obtained an extensive and most variable series from heather, at Aviemore, in Inverness. A pale-brownish tinged white pug found in Kent and the Isle of Wight, at one time referred to _E. ultimaria_, Boisduval, and afterwards known as _stevensata_, Webb, is really, according to Prout, _anglicata_, Herrich-Schaeffer. Whether this is a form of the present species or specifically distinct is still left in doubt, but personally I believe it to be a variety.

The dark-green, sometimes reddish marked, caterpillars may be beaten from juniper bushes, from April to early June. The moth is out from late July to early October, and may be found {250} in nearly all parts of the British Isles where the food plant occurs, and occasionally in localities from which juniper appears to be absent.

DOUBLE-STRIPED PUG (_Gymnoscelis_ (_Eupithecia_) _pumilata_).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5.

DOUBLE-STRIPED PUG, AT REST.

(Photo by W. J. Lucas.)]

This species varies a good deal in the tint of the ground colour and the cross markings. Three forms are depicted on Plate 99: Fig. 8 is a typical male, and Fig. 9 shows a female with distinct red bands (ab.

_rufifasciata_, Haworth); both specimens are from Surrey. The greyish example without red markings (Fig. 10) is from Ireland, and approaches ab.

_tempestivata_, Zeller, in form.

The caterpillar ranges in colour from yellowish-green to reddish; on the back there is a dark-green or blackish line, and often a series of marks of the same colour; the lines on the sides are yellowish. It feeds chiefly in or on the flowers of furze, broom, holly, clematis, hawthorn, etc., from May to September. There are certainly two broods, possibly more. The specimens of the first, or spring, generation are usually larger in size and more strongly marked than those of the summer brood.

The moth is most frequent, perhaps, in April, May, July, and August, but it may be met with in either of the months from April to November. Pretty generally distributed over the British Isles, including the Hebrides and the Orkneys. {251}