The Moths of the British Isles/Chapter 10

Some thirteen or fourteen species occurring in Europe are referred by Staudinger to this family. Only five of these occur in the British Isles. The moths are of rather small size, less, in fact, than some of the so-called "Micros," among which they have been placed. Probably they may, for this reason, be overlooked. They mostly sit head downwards on the trunks, branches, or leaves of trees, sometimes on palings, but the rarer ones hide themselves among the thick, low herbage. The time of flight is after dark, and the moths occasionally visit the sugar patch. The caterpillar has only eight false legs (prolegs), the first pair being the absent ones; the body is clothed with tufts of hair, the hairs of the front and rear tufts longer than the others. When full grown it spins a more or less spindle-shaped, toughish cocoon of silk mixed with the larval hairs, which is usually coated with particles scraped from the surface of twig or stem upon which it is spun up.

The fore wings are whitish or greyish, with a dark, almost black, patch at the base; this patch is marked with whitish, and is limited by the first cross line, which is black and curved; the second line, also black, is wavy and curved inwards towards the front margin; between these lines is a dusky central shade, commencing in a blackish spot on the front margin, and sometimes forming an inward border to the second line; a raised tuft of white, grey-capped scales on the basal patch, and two other tufts beyond it and in a line with the front margin; hind wings dark grey, paler towards the base (Plate 73).

The caterpillar is reddish brown, clothed with short greyish hairs; the spots and central line on the back are whitish. It hatches from the egg early in August, and after feeding for a while, retires to winter quarters, selecting some sheltered cranny, such as a chink in the tree bark, where it spins over itself a few strands of silk. Feeding is resumed in May and June, after hibernation, usually on the upperside of leaves of sloe and whitethorn, and also of fruit trees, such as apple and plum, and sometimes pear (Plate 72).

The moth is out in June and July. It flies at dusk.

Widely distributed and generally common in the south of England; somewhat rare in Scotland—perhaps overlooked. It has been reported from Ireland, but is not mentioned by Kane in his catalogue of Irish Lepidoptera.

Fore wings greyish white, freckled and dusted with grey brown at the base and on the front and outer margins; two black wavy and toothed cross lines; between the base of the wing and the second line are three raised tufts of grey brown tipped whitish scales: hind wings dark grey, paler towards the base (Plate 73).

The caterpillar feeds, probably after hibernation, from April to June, on the undersides of oak leaves. It is pale ochreous in colour, with pale reddish brown warts and star-like tufts of hair; a blackish bar on the back of ring six; head blackish.

The moth emerges from the chrysalis in July. It occurs in oak woods in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hants, Somerset and Gloucestershire; also in Berks, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, but it is very local and seems to be restricted to a more or less limited area in all its known haunts, among which the most favoured are perhaps the New Forest in Hampshire and Abbots Wood in Sussex. In some years it may be fairly common, or even plentiful, and then becomes quite scarce during several seasons in the same place.

Very similar to the last species, but whiter; the first line is curved towards the second tuft of raised scales, thence gently curved to the inner margin, above which there is a slight inward angle or elbow; the second line is less wavy; hind wings whitish grey with a black central dot, and in the male whiter along the inner area. The head and palpi of this species are white, but strigula has a greyish white head and dark palpi. Again, the antennæ in the male of the present species are ciliated, but in male strigula they are bipectinated (Plate 73).

The caterpillar, which feeds in July and August on the leaves of oak, beech, sloe, and apple, etc., is reddish, inclining to yellow on the back, which is traversed by black lines, the central double and interrupted on rings seven to nine by rusty V-shaped marks.

The moth flies in May and June.

This species appears to have a wider distribution than either of the others. It is the only one known with certainty to occur in Ireland, and it is widely spread in that country. In Scotland it is found in Perthshire and Ayrshire, and probably is present in other parts. In England it is obtained in most counties, except perhaps the northern, although it has been recorded from various parts of Yorkshire.

Fore wings white, largely light brown between the obscure cross lines; outer marginal area clouded, and front margin dotted with light brown; three tufts of raised scales placed as in previous species; hind wings of the male, greyish white, browner on the outer margin; of female, brownish grey. Varies in the amount of light brown, and sometimes this is much reduced; more rarely it disappears entirely (Plate 73).

The caterpillar varies in colour from ochreous with pink tinge to bone white; the warts are set with pale hairs and those along the back and at each extremity are longest; a double greyish line along the middle of the back, and a series of black marks on each side; these marks unite across the back on rings six and ten. After hibernation, it feeds in Spring until June, on the young growth of bramble, raspberry, strawberry, and cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans), and is stated to also eat hemp agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum). The brownish cocoon is constructed on a stem of grass and in appearance looks not unlike a swelling of the stem.

This species was first observed in England in the year 1859, when four specimens were taken in July at Chattenden Roughs, a large hilly wood in North-east Kent. It still occurs, no doubt, in the Kentish locality referred to, but is now very scarce there compared with what it must have been some twenty-five years ago. Barrett notes a specimen from the Isle of Wight. Mr. G. T. Porritt states that he has seen one of two examples captured in South Devon in 1901; and another, a male, has been recorded as taken at light in a house near Weymouth, Dorset, in August, 1904, and from Lewes in 1906.

At the time the first specimens were met with in England the species seems to have been rare, or little known on the Continent. Since then knowledge of its distribution has vastly increased, and it has now been found not only in many parts of Central Europe, but also in Finland, Italy, Dalmatia; Asia Minor, Persia, and extending into Amurland and Japan.

The general colour of this moth is white; the fore wings more or less sprinkled and clouded with brownish grey or dark grey, and crossed by two black lines, the first curved and the second slightly waved, indented and edged inwardly with ochreous brown; the three raised tufts are white, capped with grey (Plate 73).

This is the only really variable species among the five occurring in this country. In some specimens the space between the cross lines is largely filled in with dark grey, and in other specimens the wings are almost entirely white, traces of the cross lines being the only markings.

Mr. Robert Adkin, who has reared this species from the egg, kindly allowed me to select specimens from his fine series to illustrate the range of aberration; these are figured on Plate 73.

Caterpillar brownish inclining to purplish, with an ochreous line along the middle of the back and some brown V-shaped black marks. Head blackish brown. It feeds in May, after hibernation, on various clovers, preferring the blossoms, and bird's-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus).

The moth appears some time between mid-July and mid-August. The late Mr. Tugwell, by keeping some larvæ, reared from the egg, in a warm room induced them to feed up instead of hibernating, and they attained the moth state in December.

This is another exceedingly local species in England. It was first taken at Bembridge in the Isle of Wight in 1858, and one or two specimens have since been obtained in that island. Examples have also occurred on the cliffs near Hastings, and at Folkestone; and one has been recorded as taken in a light trap at Woodbridge in Suffolk, July 21, 1904. The headquarters for the species in this country are the Deal sand-hills, on the Kentish coast, where it was discovered over a quarter of a century ago, and probably occurs still.