Volume Ii Part 45 (1/2)

_quadrimaculata_, Hatchett (Pinion-spotted Yellow), a form that used to occur rarely in the Dartford district, Kent, and of which an example is depicted on Plate 61, Fig. 2.

The caterpillar is green, with white lines and stripes; head, s.h.i.+ning green. It feeds, in July and August, on wood sage (_Teucrium_), woundwort (_Stachys_), and dead nettle (_Lamium_). {287}

The moth is a lover of the woodlands, and as it flies in the daytime, especially when sunny, will be almost certainly noted on the wing by any one rambling through the woods in June, or even late May. It is generally plentiful in the south and west of England, but although its range extends through the northern parts of the country, and widely over Scotland to Sutherland, it is more or less local and often rare in the northern area indicated. In North Wales and South-west Ireland, it is local, but not uncommon.

THE PEAc.o.c.k MOTH (_Semiothisa_ (_Macaria_) _notata_).

Whitish, with an ochreous tinge, and clouded with ochreous grey; three indistinct cross lines on the fore wings, commencing as brownish spots on the front margin; a larger brownish spot, inclining to reddish, on the front margin beyond the angle of outer line, and a large blackish or brownish divided spot below it; a shallow notch under the tips of the wings, edged with dark brown, and fringed with smoky brown. (Plate 119, Fig. 7.)

The caterpillar is green, with brown markings on the sides, or brownish with green markings; head, black as a rule, but occasionally green. It feeds, in late June and in July, on birch and sallow; there is a second brood in August and September. The moth may be beaten out from birch bushes in May and June, and again in July and August. Woods are its favourite haunts, especially those where heather and small birch abound, but it is very local in the south of England, although it occurs in most of the counties from Kent to Cornwall. Barrett states that it is rather common in heathy woods in Staffords.h.i.+re and Ches.h.i.+re, and Forsythe gives it as local and uncommon in the Lancaster district; also recorded from Cambridges.h.i.+re, Suffolk, Herts (Bentley Wood, 1901), and Gloucesters.h.i.+re; Glamorgans.h.i.+re, South Wales; Inverness and Ross, in Scotland. {288}

SHARP-ANGLED PEAc.o.c.k (_Semiothisa alternata_).

Whitish clouded and suffused with greyish; fore wings crossed by three dark lines, commencing in blackish spots on the front margin; a greyish band follows the outer line, a reddish brown spot at the costal end, and a blackish spot about the middle, the spot broken up by the veins, which are here ochreous; a rather deep notch below the tip is edged with black and fringed with blackish. Hind wings with a black central dot, and a greyish band beyond. (Plate 119, Fig. 8.)

Mr. A. J. Scollick has recorded that some caterpillars, presumably about a week old on June 24, 1905, went into chrysalis July 7 to 12. One moth emerged July 18, but no other appeared until December 20. A third came up on January 5, 1906, and a fourth on February 5.

The caterpillar is pale green, with reddish brown blotches on the sides, and sometimes the back is also reddish brown. It feeds on alder, sallow, and sloe, in June, and as a second generation in the autumn. (Eggs and a caterpillar, the latter after Hofmann, are figured on Plate 123.) The moth flies in May and early June, and occasionally in July or August.

This species, which is always local, is perhaps most frequently met with in the New Forest, Hants, but it is not uncommon in some parts of the Isle of Wight, Dorset, Devon, and Kent. Also noted from a few other southern counties, and from Suffolk, Norfolk, and Westmoreland. In Wales, it has occurred at Neath, Glamorgans.h.i.+re.

The range of this species abroad, and also that of the last, extends to Amurland.

TAWNY-BARRED ANGLE (_Semiothisa liturata_).

The more frequent forms of this species are shown on Plate 119, Figs. 9, 10. In some examples the cross lines are almost absent, but in others they are very distinct and blackish in colour; the orange yellow band in the outer marginal area varies in width and in strength, but it is usually present, even in the sooty brown form ab. _nigrofulvata_, Collins (Plate 61, Fig. 7), described from Delamere, Ches.h.i.+re, also found in Shrops.h.i.+re, and recorded from ”Oakley Wood.”

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 120.

1, 3. EARLY MOTH.

2, 4, 5, 6. SPRING USHER.

7, 9. SCARCE UMBER.

8, 10, 11, 12. DOTTED BORDER.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 121.

1. DARK-BORDERED BEAUTY: _eggs_.

2, 2a. BORDERED BEAUTY: _eggs and caterpillar_.

3. LITTLE THORN: _caterpillar_.

{289} The caterpillar (Plate 123, Fig. 2) is green, with white or creamy transverse lines and stripes; head, reddish. Another form is pale ochreous grey or brownish, with pale grey lines and stripes; head, almost black, with purple tinge. It feeds on the needles of Scots pine (_Pinus sylvestris_), in July and August, and occasionally in September and October. A photograph of the chrysalis by Mr. H. Main, enlarged to twice natural size, is shown on Plate 123.

The moth is to be found in fir woods, where it lurks among the branches or sits on the trunks, or on the fallen needles on the ground. The moths of the first generation appear in June and July and, where it occurs, the second flies in August and September. Widely distributed over the British Isles, but not noted north of Moray, in Scotland.

EARLY MOTH (_Hybernia rupicapraria_).