Volume Ii Part 51 (1/2)
The caterpillar, according to Fenn, is variable in colour and markings, all shades of brown, greenish brown, ochreous, purple, and grey; in some examples there are pale diamonds, and in others whitish spots, along the back. It feeds on ling and heath, and will eat clover, trefoils, broom, etc.: July and August, and occasionally September. The moth is out in May and June, and sometimes there are specimens on the wing in August. Abundant on almost every heath throughout the British Isles, except in the Shetlands.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
2 Pl. 142.
1. V-MOTH: _caterpillar_.
2. YELLOW BELLE: _caterpillars_.
3. BORDERED GREY: _caterpillar_.
4. GREY SCALLOPED BAR: _caterpillar_.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
2 Pl. 143.
1, 2. BORDERED GREY.
3. V-MOTH.
4, 5. RANNOCH LOOPER.
6. BROWN SILVER-LINE.
7-9. LATTICED HEATH.
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BORDERED WHITE (_Bupalus piniaria_).
Two forms of the male of this species are represented on Plate 141. Fig. 9 shows the yellow English form (ab. _flavescens_, White), and Fig. 10 the white North English and Scotch forms. In southern localities, however, specimens occur which are almost as white as the northern or even Scotch examples; I have two such specimens from Surrey. There is considerable variation in the size of area occupied by the pale colour, both in white and yellow forms. In one of the former, from Forres, in Scotland, the white is represented by a small oval spot and dappled streak on the fore wings; an entirely black specimen (ab. _nigricarius_, Backhaus) has been noted from Berks.h.i.+re. In other specimens there is an unusually large proportion of pale colour. The females are usually orange, or orange yellow, in the south (Fig. 8); and yellowish brown, or dingy orange brown, in the north.
The brownish-coloured females occasionally occur in the south, and the brighter form of this s.e.x is sometimes taken in the Midlands, where the two forms of the species seem to overlap.
The long, greenish caterpillar is marked with whitish or yellow lines; those along the back are edged with black, and along the sides with dark green. It feeds from August to October on the needles of the pine, and also on other firs. (Plate 140, Fig. 3; Fig. 3a shows a photo of the chrysalis, twice natural size, by Mr. H. Main.) The moth is out in May and June, later in the north; it is generally common in pine woods throughout England, Wales, and Scotland.
BORDERED GREY (_Selidosema ericetaria_).
Portraits of the male and female of this species (known also as _plumaria_) will be found on Plate 143, Figs. 1 [male], 2 [female]. The cross markings are more distinct in some specimens than in others, and the central one of the fore wings varies in width. {326}
The caterpillar (Plate 142, Fig. 3, from a photograph by Mr. H. Main) is grey, with a dark-brown or blackish irregular double line along the back, and pale lines along the sides, the lower one edged above with reddish brown; spiracles, black, as also are the dots on the back; the last ring ends in a point. (Adapted from Porritt.) It feeds on ling (_Calluna_), from September well on into the following spring.
The moth occurs on heaths and mosses in July and August, but it is local.
On warm days the males are very active, but about dusk they are not difficult to capture. In southern England, the New Forest, Hants, appears to be its special home, but it is also found in other parts of that county, including the Isle of Wight, in Dorsets.h.i.+re, and in Surrey; also noted from Berks.h.i.+re. It is scarce in Ches.h.i.+re, fairly common on the Witherslack mosses in North Lancas.h.i.+re, and at Ullswater in c.u.mberland. Except that it has been recorded from the Isle of Arran (1882), it does not seem to have been noted in Scotland. In Ireland it is widely distributed, and is abundant at Kinsale, co. Cork.
THE V-MOTH (_Thamnonoma_ (_Itame_) _wauari_).
The popular name of this species (Plate 143, Fig. 3) refers to the black discal mark on the more or less violet-tinged pale, greyish fore wings; but there is a good deal of variation in this character. Occasionally the wings are suffused with smoky (ab. _vau-nigraria_, Hatchett), or more rarely with blackish brown (ab. _fuscaria_, Thunberg).
On Plate 142 is a figure of the caterpillar, from a coloured drawing by Mr.
A. Sich. The general colour is greenish, or some shade of brown; the lines on the back are white, and that low down along the sides is broad, and yellow; the raised dots are black with short bristles. It feeds in April, May, and June on the foliage of gooseberry and currant, and is especially fond of the tender shoots. {327}
The moth, which is out in July and August, is often common in gardens and orchards where bush fruit is grown, pretty well throughout the United Kingdom. It appears to occur only rarely in Ireland.