Volume Ii Part 48 (1/2)

5, 6. WILLOW BEAUTY.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 131.

1. WILLOW BEAUTY: _eggs and caterpillar_.

2. MOTTLED BEAUTY: _caterpillar_.

{305}

WILLOW BEAUTY (_Boarmia gemmaria_).

The two portraits on Plate 130 represent the best known forms of this species. Stephens in 1831 referred the smoky or dark slaty grey form (Fig.

6), which is the ordinary one in the London district, now as then, to _rhomboidaria_. Newman subsequently named this form _perfumaria_, and he, and other entomologists of the time, considered it as a species distinct from _gemmaria_ = _rhomboidaria_. We now know that the smoky grey specimens are not peculiar to the metropolitan area, but occur in other parts of England (Warwicks.h.i.+re, Yorks.h.i.+re, Lancas.h.i.+re, etc.), and are found, with the type, at Howth and other localities in Ireland. The more general forms throughout England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland up to Perths.h.i.+re, are pale brown, or greyish brown (typical), sometimes ochreous tinged (Fig. 5); the latter is referable to ab. _consobrinaria_, Haworth. Black forms have been recorded from Norwich in Norfolk, and blackish specimens have been noted from Ashdown Forest, Suss.e.x; from Cannock Chase, Staffords.h.i.+re; and from the south of Scotland.

The eggs (Plate 131, Fig. 1a) are green at first, changing to pink mottled with green, and finally to dark grey; the latter change indicates early hatching of the caterpillar, which usually occurs about a fortnight after the eggs are deposited.

The caterpillar (Plate 131, Fig. 1, after a coloured drawing by Mr. A.

Sich) is dull reddish brown, mottled more or less with ochreous; traces of diamond-shaped marks on the back, the latter sometimes well defined. It feeds on ivy (in London gardens especially), hawthorn, birch, privet, lilac, rose, clematis, broom, and many other shrubs, and also on yew and fir, in August, and after hibernation in the spring. The moth is out in July and August; sometimes a second brood occurs in September. {306}

This species is the _gemmaria_ of Brahm (1791), but _rhomboidaria_, Schiffermuller (1776), although only a catalogue name until figured by Hubner, about 1797, is adopted by some authors.

SATIN CARPET (_Boarmia abietaria_).

As an inhabitant of Britain this species was first noted from Hamps.h.i.+re, and in 1825 was figured and described by Curtis as _Alcis sericearia_. Two specimens of this form, from the New Forest, are depicted on Plate 132, Figs. 1, 2; but paler, and also darker, examples are found in this locality, and, occasionally, melanic specimens occur as well. The latter form, some examples of which might be described as sooty black with black veins, is more prevalent among the yews and firs of Surrey.

The caterpillar, for the example of which (and also the egg), figured on Plate 138, Figs. 1, 1a, I am obliged to Mr. Arthur J. Scollick, is, in one form, ochreous brown with paler cream-coloured patches on the back; and in another dark grey-brown with paler patches, sometimes of a light cinnamon brown; a pale, thin line along the middle of the back runs through a series of brownish diamonds; there are other pale lines on the back and sides, and these are edged with brownish, and partly with blackish; spiracles outlined in black. (Adapted from Buckler.) It feeds on spruce, pine, yew, oak, birch, sallow, etc., from August to June. A larva has been found on bilberry in Devon.

The moth is out from late June to early August, but captured specimens are not often suitable for the cabinet, they are generally more or less frayed or scarred.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 132.

1, 2. SATIN CARPET.

3-6. MOTTLED BEAUTY.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 Pl. 133.

1. DOTTED CARPET: _caterpillars_.

2. BRUSSELS LACE: _caterpillars_.

3. WAVED UMBER: _caterpillar_.

4. BELTED BEAUTY: _eggs_.

{307} Beside Surrey and Hants, previously mentioned, the species occurs in Suss.e.x (Tilgate Forest), Buckinghams.h.i.+re (Halton), and has been recorded from Berks.h.i.+re; Egg Buckland, Oxton, Bickleigh Vale, and other Devons.h.i.+re localities; also from Cornwall, Somersets.h.i.+re, Gloucesters.h.i.+re (the Cotswolds), and Monmouths.h.i.+re.

Staudinger and other recent authors have adopted _ribeata_, Clerck, for this species.

MOTTLED BEAUTY (_Boarmia repandata_).

Two examples of the more ordinary mottled form of this species are shown on Plate 132, Figs. 3 [male], and 4 [female]. Fig. 6 represents ab.