Volume Ii Part 40 (1/2)

Localities for the species are the fens of Cambridge and Norfolk, the boggy parts of the New Forest, Hants; Dorset (Bloxworth and Hyde, etc.); Ches.h.i.+re (Delamere Forest); Yorks.h.i.+re (bogs near York, and Thorne Waste).

The range abroad extends to j.a.pan.

DARK SPINACH (_Pelurga comitata_).

The darker banded, pale ochreous species shown on Plate 102, Figs. 3 [male], 4 [female], varies in the colour of the band to brownish; the central area of this band is almost always pale ochreous or whitish, to a greater or lesser extent.

Caterpillar, stout and roughened; ochreous inclining to reddish, and tinged above with greenish; a series of V-shaped marks along the back, yellow oblique darker on the sides, and a greyish edged pale wavy line low down along the sides. {255} The figures 2, 2a, on Plate 94 are from coloured drawings by Mr. A. Sich.

It feeds in the autumn on the flowers and seeds of various kinds of goosefoot (_Chenopodium_), also on Orache (_Atriplex_). The moth is out in July and August, and may be found among its food plants and other low herbage growing in waste places, more particularly those on sandy coasts.

Around the borders of market gardens, especially those in the south of London, and in Kent and Surrey, it is often very common. The species probably occurs more or less freely in suitable places almost throughout the British Isles.

Its range abroad extends to East Siberia.

SLENDER-STRIPED RUFOUS (_Phibalapteryx lapidata_).

The rather pointed fore wings are pale brownish, and are crossed by several fine wavy and rather darker lines, and three more distinct, slightly curved lines, one of which is at the base and two are on the central area. The outer margin of the hind wings, which are pale brown, more or less shaded with dusky, is irregular. (Plate 102, Fig. 6.)

Caterpillar, whitish-yellow above, inclining to pale buff below; lines of grey freckles along the back and sides, the lower one broader and darker; head, grey, freckled with darker. According to h.e.l.lins, who reared it from the egg, it feeds in May and June, on traveller's joy (_Clematis vitalba_).

The natural food is doubtful, but is said to be gra.s.s, whilst Kirby states that in the South of France the caterpillar eats evergreen oak.

The moth is out in September and early October, and is found in Scotland on the hills, in rough gra.s.sy and rush-covered spots, at elevations ranging from 300 to 800 feet. In Ireland, it is not uncommon in Antrim, Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Galway, {256} and Limerick. Barrett states that a specimen has been taken at Shap Fell in Westmorland.

Abroad, the range extends to East Siberia.

MANY-LINED MOTH (_Phibalapteryx polygrammata_).

The female example of this species, represented on Plate 102, Fig. 5, is from Germany; the male is somewhat paler and the central markings less distinct. This form is var. _conjunctaria_, Lederer, and most of the specimens formerly obtained in the Cambridges.h.i.+re fens, chiefly Burwell and Wicken, were referable to it. The species has not been seen in its old fenland haunts for very many years, and it is probably now extinct in Britain. Specimens have been in the past (and still continue to be) recorded from other British localities, but these on investigation are found to be cases of mistaken ident.i.ty. _C. vittata_ = _lignata_ bears a strong likeness to _P. polygrammata_, and is often confused with it, but in the latter the outer band does not run to the tips of the fore wings, as it does in the former species.

SMALL WAVED UMBER (_Phibalapteryx_ (_Coenocalpe_) _vitalbata_).

At first sight this moth (Plate 102, Fig. 7) might be mistaken for a small specimen of the Waved Umber (_Hemerophila abruptaria_), but it will be noted that the dark stripe on the fore wings starts from the middle of the inner margin, and runs to just below the tips of the wings; the outer margin of the hind wings is not wavy, and the antennae of the male are not pectinated.

The caterpillar, which feeds on traveller's joy (_Clematis vitalba_), in June-July, and in September-October, is greyish {257} brown, with three blackish lines along the back, the central one broader than the other two, especially on the middle of each ring, where it swells out into a black spot.

In May and June, and again in August, the moth may be disturbed from the food plant growing in ma.s.ses in hedgerows, etc. It occurs in most of the southern counties of England, westward to Herefords.h.i.+re and South Wales, and eastward to Suffolk. Forsythe states that it is local in the Lancaster district.

The range abroad extends to Amurland and j.a.pan.

THE FERN (_Phibalapteryx_ (_Coenocalpe_) _tersata_).

The general colour of this species (Plate 102, Fig. 8) is pale brown, with a tendency to reddish in some specimens, and to greyish in others.

Caterpillar, pale brownish inclining to ochreous; on each side of an irregular blackish line along the centre of the back is a pale yellowish line, and there are white spots on the back of the middle rings. It feeds on _Clematis_, in August and September. The moth is out in June and July, and will be found in similar localities to those mentioned for the previous species, and, except that it has not been recorded from Lancaster, its range in England is much about the same.

The distribution abroad extends to j.a.pan.

OBLIQUE CARPET (_Coenocalpe vittata_).

This species, also known as _lignata_, Hubner, is usually pale brown in ground colour, tinged with ochreous or pinkish; the darker oblique stripes vary in width and in intensity. (Plate 102, Figs. 9 [male], gen. 1; 10 [male], gen. 2.)

The caterpillar is of a yellow-green colour, inclining to {258} ochreous brown on the upper portions of the middle rings; a darker irregular line along the back, and a whitish line on each side, the latter edged above and below with a fine black line; below the spiracles is a pale pinkish brown stripe. Varies in the tint of ground colour and in the markings. It feeds, after hibernation, on bedstraw (_Galium pal.u.s.tre_, _G. saxatile_, etc.), and caterpillars from eggs laid in June may be reared on clematis, wild or cultivated.

The moth is out in May and June, sometimes later, and a second generation appears in August and September; the individuals of the later brood are often smaller than those of the first brood. Its haunts are fens, marshes, and water-meads, but in Middles.e.x I have taken a specimen or two flying along a weedy ditch. Widely distributed throughout the British Isles, but not noted in Scotland north of Moray.