Part 20

It feeds on flowers of one of the hawkbits (_Leontodon hispidus_), and hawk's-beard (_Crepis taraxacifolia_), etc., from July to September. In June and early July, the moth may be started up from the herbage, as the collector walks over rough ground inland, or more frequently on the coast. It also occurs in fens, marshy places in woods, etc.

The species occurs in Bucks., Berks., Surrey, and in the seaboard counties from Norfolk in the east to Gloucestershire in the west, also in South Wales; in the north it is found in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland. It is not common in Scotland, but has been reported from various parts, extending from Wigtown to Argyll and Aberdeen. In Ireland it is also a coast insect, from Donegal to Cork.

HAWORTH'S PUG (_Eupithecia haworthiata_).

The fore wings of this species (Plate 98. Fig. 2) are pale greyish, with dark cross lines, and still darker narrow bands; hind wings, similar, but markings less distinct. Resembles {243} the last species in size, but the wings are somewhat rounder, darker, and not so silky in appearance; the body, near the thorax, is ochreous brown. Also known as _isogrammaria_, Herrich-Schaeffer, but _haworthiata_, Doubleday, is stated by Prout to be the older name.

In July and August the caterpillar (Plate 90, Fig. 3) may be found in the flower-buds of the traveller's joy or old man's beard (_Clematis vitalba_). It is green, with a bluish or pinkish tinge, and there are generally three darker stripes along the back, but these are sometimes absent; occasionally the ground colour is yellowish.

The moth is out in June and July, and may be seen flying about clematis in the sunshine, but such specimens are not often worth taking. It is easily reared from caterpillars, which will thrive on flowers of garden _Clematis_, and may be obtained by the score, either by beating, or by searching for discoloured or black-specked flower buds of the traveller's joy.

The species is most frequent in the south of England, but it occurs in all the eastern, some of the midland, and also in the northern counties to Lancashire and Yorkshire; in the last-named county, Porritt states that the caterpillars were found in profusion on _Clematis_ near Wadworth, Doncaster, in 1901, It inhabits South Wales and Ireland.

Abroad, the species ranges to Amurland and China.

VALERIAN PUG (_Eupithecia valerianata_).

The fore wings of this species (Plate 98, Fig. 3) are brownish grey, with indistinct darker cross lines, and a wavy whitish submarginal line; the latter is sometimes not clear, except towards the inner angle.

Caterpillar, rather short, bright green, with three darker green lines along the back; a whitish line low down along the sides, and the ring-divisions are yellow. It feeds, in July {244} and August, on flowers and seeds of all-heal, or cat's valerian (_Valeriana officinalis_).

The moth is out in May and June; its haunts are in fens, marshes, and damp spots affected by its food plant, but, as a rule, is only found in the caterpillar state. A local, but widely distributed species in England; occurs also in Wales and in Ireland.

LEAD-COLOURED PUG (_Eupithecia plumbeolata_).

The small, obscurely marked species, represented on Plate 98, Fig. 1, has the fore wings whitish grey, sometimes assuming a yellowish tinge; a number of rather wavy, darker cross lines, and a more or less clearly defined pale band beyond the middle; discal spot always tiny and rarely distinct.

The stumpy caterpillar is yellowish green, with three purplish-red lines along the back, the central one swollen on each ring, and the others irregular; sometimes the back is suffused with purplish-red. It feeds on the flowers of cow-wheat (_Melampyrum_) in July and August.

The moth is out in May and June, and is readily induced to fly out from among cow-wheat, or the other herbage around. It may be found in most of the English counties, wherever its food plant abounds; in South Wales; in Scotland to Argyll and Aberdeen, and in Ireland from Cork to Donegal.

The range abroad extends to Amurland.

MARSH PUG (_Eupithecia pygmaeata_).

This species (Plate 98, Fig. 4) may be distinguished from _haworthiata_, which it approaches in size and general appearance, by its more pointed fore wings and the white dot at the inner angle of these wings. {245}

The long, thin caterpillar is yellowish green; a pale olive line along the middle of the back, connecting a series of urn-shaped blotches of the same colour; two pale olive, irregular lines on each side. It feeds, in June and July, on flowers of stitchwort (_Stellaria holostea_).

The moth is out in May and June, sometimes later; examples of a second brood have been obtained in August and September. It flies in the afternoon, but only when the sun shines, and where the food plant grows freely.

The species occurs in all the eastern counties of England, in Bucks., and in the northern counties to Cumberland and Northumberland. In Wales it has been recorded from Colwyn, Denbighshire; in Scotland it is widely spread to Perthshire; it is local and scarce in Ireland.

SLENDER PUG (_Eupithecia tenuiata_).

The fore wings are rather rounded; grey, more or less tinged with brownish, and with ochreous or reddish brown along the front edge; the latter with dusky clouds upon it; the cross lines are dark grey brown and fairly distinct, and the discal spot is black (Plate 98, Fig. 5). A large grey form from Moray, in Scotland, has been named _cinerae_, Gregson.

Caterpillar, rather stumpy, and dingy yellowish green in colour, the sides and middle of the back rosy; a series of dusky spots, edged by black lines or short streaks, along the back; and a row of pinkish oblique stripes on the sides. It feeds, in the spring, in sallow catkins, and the moths may often be bred in numbers, in June and July, from those catkins which fall most readily from the bushes when we go "a sallowing." Moths frequently rest on the stems, and where there is a clump of well-grown sallows, a good series may be obtained.

The species is partial to fens and marshy places, and is found in such situations over the greater part of the British Isles. {246}

MAPLE PUG (_Eupithecia inturbata_).

The fore wings are greyish brown, with many darker cross lines; the outer margin is darker and traversed by a pale line; discal dot, dark grey and not very distinct (Plate 98, Fig. 6). This species was long known as _subciliata_, Guenee, but is now referred to _inturbata_, Hubner.

In May and June the caterpillars may be beaten from maple, which is apparently the only food plant, and of which they have a decided preference for the flowers. When full grown the larva is yellowish green with a purplish stripe along the back, and whitish lines along the sides.

The moth may be jarred from the branches of the maple in July and August; it is occasionally seen resting on fences, etc. It seems to be found in England and Wales, in most places where there is a mature growth of maple.

THE ANGLE-BARRED PUG (_Eupithecia innotata_).

The greyish-brown fore wings of this species (Plate 98, Fig. 7) are crossed by darker oblique lines, which are angled on the front margin; the submarginal line is white and irregular, especially at each end.

Caterpillar, ochreous grey, inclining to pinkish, marked on the back with white-edged, purplish- or reddish-brown blotches, and on the sides with reddish or purple spots; a whitish line low down along the sides. It feeds on the flowers of wormwood and mugwort (_Artemisia_), from August to October.

The moth, which is uncommon and very local in England, is out in July. It occurs in Devonshire (Exeter district), Kent (Wye), Essex (Shoeburyness), Lincolnshire (Skegness, etc.), Worcestershire (Malvern), Lancashire and Cheshire (coast sand-hills, Macclesfield, etc.), and Durham (Hartlepool). {247}

ASH PUG (_Eupithecia fraxinata_).

Very similar to the last mentioned, but smaller, and the markings are less distinct (Plate 98, Fig. 8).

The caterpillar is variable, but generally some shade of green, occasionally purplish red; lines on the sides yellowish, and sometimes there are dusky purplish marks on the back. It feeds, in August and September, on ash, and is said to eat _Artemisia_, _Laurustinus_, and the flowers of scabious. The moth is out in late June and July, and sometimes a second generation appears in the autumn.

This species, which by some entomologists is considered to be a form of _E. innotata_, is widely distributed over England, south Scotland, and Ireland. _Tamarisciata_, Freyer, is also considered by some authorities to be a form of _E. innotata_.

Some moths reared from larvae obtained, in 1905, from Tamarisk, in Cornwall, have been referred to _tamarisciata_.

NARROW-WINGED PUG (_Eupithecia nanata_).

The rather variable species represented on Plate 99, Figs. 1 and 2, will easily be recognised by its long pointed fore wings, which in colour are whitish grey, darkened by brownish cross-stripes; a whitish spot before the small, black discal dot.

The long, thin, caterpillar, which feeds on ling or heather in the autumn, is whitish with a greenish tinge: the sides are marked with red, and there are some reddish spots on the back.

On almost all heather-clad ground throughout the British Isles, this pretty little moth will be found, more or less commonly, during the months of May and early June, and sometimes there is a second flight in July and August. {248}

BRINDLED PUG (_Eupithecia abbreviata_).

The ochreous grey fore wings of this species (Plate 99, Fig. 3) are crossed by dark, bent lines, and marked with black on the veins; the central area is sometimes whitish, and generally paler than the ground colour.

Caterpillar, slender, ochreous brown in colour, with browner lines and redder V-shaped marks on the back. It feeds on oak, in June and July. The moth is not uncommon in oak woods, in April and May, and may be beaten from the boughs in the daytime, and not infrequently found resting on the trunks. Generally distributed, but in Scotland not noted north of Perthshire.

OAK-TREE PUG (_Eupithecia dodoneata_).

This species (Plate 99, Fig. 5) differs from the last in being smaller, paler in colour, more distinctly marked, and with a rather larger and more conspicuous discal spot.

The caterpillar feeds, in June and July, on young leaves of oak, the flowers of the evergreen oak (_Quercus ilex_), and hawthorn. It is orange, or ochreous red, with blackish marks connected by a line of the same colour along the back, and yellowish stripes and lines on the sides.

The moth is out in May and early June, and occurs in some of the woods in most of the southern counties of England, and on the west to Worcestershire. It has been recorded from Yorks. and Cumberland; from Glamorganshire, South Wales; and from counties Armagh, Dublin, Wicklow, and Sligo, in Ireland.

MOTTLED PUG (_Eupithecia exiguata_).

In some respects this species (Plate 99, Fig. 4) is not unlike _E. abbreviata_, but the general colour of the fore wings is pale grey inclining to brownish; a good character is the blackish {249} band before the submarginal line, which is interrupted by patches of the ground colour, one above, and the other below, the middle; the submarginal line is whitish towards the inner margin.

Caterpillar, long and thin; dark green; a series of yellow dotted reddish marks on the back, and a yellow-edged reddish line low down along the sides. It feeds, in the autumn, on hawthorn, sloe, currant, sallow, ash, etc.

The moth is out in May and June, and is sometimes seen at rest on the stems and branches of trees, fences, etc., and may be beaten out of hedgerows.

Widely distributed throughout England, Wales, Scotland to Perthshire, and Ireland.

JUNIPER PUG (_Eupithecia sobrinata_).

Two specimens are shown on Plate 99: Fig. 6 represents a more or less typical example from the Surrey downs, and Fig. 7 a pale form from Forres in Scotland. The species varies in tint of ground colour, and in the strength of marking, in all its localities; but in Scotland there is a greater tendency to pale forms than in England. Mr. H. McArthur, during the present year, obtained an extensive and most variable series from heather, at Aviemore, in Inverness. A pale-brownish tinged white pug found in Kent and the Isle of Wight, at one time referred to _E. ultimaria_, Boisduval, and afterwards known as _stevensata_, Webb, is really, according to Prout, _anglicata_, Herrich-Schaeffer. Whether this is a form of the present species or specifically distinct is still left in doubt, but personally I believe it to be a variety.

The dark-green, sometimes reddish marked, caterpillars may be beaten from juniper bushes, from April to early June. The moth is out from late July to early October, and may be found {250} in nearly all parts of the British Isles where the food plant occurs, and occasionally in localities from which juniper appears to be absent.

DOUBLE-STRIPED PUG (_Gymnoscelis_ (_Eupithecia_) _pumilata_).

This species varies a good deal in the tint of the ground colour and the cross markings. Three forms are depicted on Plate 99: Fig. 8 is a typical male, and Fig. 9 shows a female with distinct red bands (ab. _rufifasciata_, Haworth); both specimens are from Surrey. The greyish example without red markings (Fig. 10) is from Ireland, and approaches ab. _tempestivata_, Zeller, in form.

The caterpillar ranges in colour from yellowish-green to reddish; on the back there is a dark-green or blackish line, and often a series of marks of the same colour; the lines on the sides are yellowish. It feeds chiefly in or on the flowers of furze, broom, holly, clematis, hawthorn, etc., from May to September. There are certainly two broods, possibly more. The specimens of the first, or spring, generation are usually larger in size and more strongly marked than those of the summer brood.

The moth is most frequent, perhaps, in April, May, July, and August, but it may be met with in either of the months from April to November. Pretty generally distributed over the British Isles, including the Hebrides and the Orkneys. {251}

CLOAKED PUG (_Eucymatoge togata_).

Over sixty years ago, this fine pug (Plate 99, Figs. 11 and 12) was detected in England. It was first noted in a plantation of spruce fir at Black Park, Buckinghamshire, in mid-June, 1845, and for many years this was the only known British locality. At the present time it is obtained more or less regularly in the New Forest, and has been recorded, chiefly in single specimens, from Wiltshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Yorkshire, and Durham. It is not uncommon in Scotland up to Inverness, but is most plentiful in Perthshire.

Kane (_Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Ireland_) states that it is spreading over an extensive area in Ireland, as a result of the planting of spruce fir.

The caterpillar, which feeds in the spruce cones, and eats the immature seeds, is dingy white with a pinkish tinge, and suffused with blackish above; the lines along the back and sides, when present, are whitish but not distinct; head, and raised dots on the body, black; a brown plate on the first ring: July and August. Cones containing caterpillars may be secured by visiting a known locality for the species towards the end of August, especially immediately after a gale.

The moth may be dislodged from its resting place among the branches of the spruce in June, sometimes earlier or later.

V-PUG (_Chloroclystis coronata_).

This is "_Phalaena_" _v-ata_, Haworth, and also the V-Pug of that author. A later English name for the species is "The Coronet Pug," an Anglicism for the Latin specific name, and has reference to the black upper part of the outer cross line which is twice angled and bears a fanciful resemblance to a {252} coronet; the lower angle is, however, most distinct, therefore Haworth's English name seems most suitable as it indicates the V-mark, which is a noticeable character of this delicate green species. (Plate 100, Fig. 1.)

The caterpillar is yellowish green, with three reddish lines along the back, the central one most distinct and sometimes forming triangular marks, or lozenges. The ground colour varies, and may be greener, yellower, or occasionally greyish; and the markings are not always present.

There are two generations, the first in June and July, and the second in the autumn, and in confinement a third brood is sometimes obtained. The blossoms of various plants are eaten, but those of hemp-agrimony (_Eupatorium cannabinum_), golden-rod (_Solidago_), clematis, and purple loosestrife (_Lythrum salicaria_), are perhaps favourites. Hawthorn and bramble have also been mentioned as food plants.

The moth is out in most of the months from May to August, but seems to be most frequent in the first named.

Generally distributed in the southern half of England, extending into South Wales, rare in Yorkshire and in Roxburghshire, Scotland. Widely distributed in Ireland. The range abroad extends to Japan.

GREEN PUG (_Chloroclystis rectangulata_).

Of this variable species five examples are shown on Plate 100. Figs. 2 and 3 represent the typical and more usual forms; 3 varies in the direction of ab. _subaerata_, Hubn., and Fig. 4 is the greyish ab. _cydoniata_, Bork. Ab. _nigrosericeata_, Haworth (Fig. 6), is blackish with white submarginal line; and an intermediate form (Fig. 5) may be referable to ab. _sericeata_, Haworth.

The stumpy caterpillar is of a pale yellow green colour, with {253} a more or less distinct reddish or dark-green line along the back, and reddish ring-divisions. It feeds in flowers of the wild apple or crab, and of apples and pears grown in orchards and gardens. It is found in April and May, and the moth is out in June and July.

The species is common throughout the greater part of England and Wales, and its range extends to Ross in Scotland. It has a wide distribution in Ireland.

BILBERRY PUG (_Chloroclystis debiliata_).

As a British insect, this species (Plate 100, Figs. 7 and 8) was first found in Devonshire, and was then known by the English name of "The Devon Pug." As the yellowish green caterpillar, marked with a darker line along the back and a yellowish one low down on the sides, feeds on bilberry, in April and May, and is by no means confined to Devonshire, the popular name here adopted is more suitable.

When quite fresh the moth, which is out in June and July, has a very delicate tinge of green, but this quickly fades out, leaving a pale greyish white insect. In the typical form (Fig. 7) the black central lines are fairly well defined, but in ab. _nigropunctata_, Chant (Fig. 8), the lines are represented by a series of dots.

The species is common in some of the sheltered hollows among the hills in Devon and Somerset, and I used to find it in abundance in the Martinhoe district, in the former county. The moths were rarely disturbed from the food plant during the day, but towards dusk they flew in numbers around small trees of mountain ash. Other counties in which it is known to occur are--England: Cornwall, Worcester, Staffordshire, Leicester, and Lancashire (formerly on Chat Moss). Wales: Glamorgan and Pembroke. Scotland: Aberdeen. Ireland: Wicklow, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, and Sligo. {254}

DENTATED PUG (_Collix sparsata_).

At one time this greyish brown species (Plate 102, Figs. 1, 2) was known by the English name of "Broom Scallop," but it is now usually referred to, in the vulgar tongue, as the Dentated Pug. The hind wings have their outer margins toothed rather than scalloped, and the insect has nothing to do with broom.

The rather long caterpillar is pale green, with four white lines along the back, and one on each side; a whitish stripe along the black spiracles. Head, pale brown, rather flat above. (Adapted from Porritt.) It feeds on the yellow loosestrife (_Lysimachia vulgaris_), in July and August, or even later. Fens and marshy woodlands are the haunts of the moth, which is out in June and early July. It hides among the coarser vegetation, and is not always easily disturbed therefrom; neither is it often noticed when on the wing at night, although it is sometimes found at the flowers of buckthorn.

Localities for the species are the fens of Cambridge and Norfolk, the boggy parts of the New Forest, Hants; Dorset (Bloxworth and Hyde, etc.); Cheshire (Delamere Forest); Yorkshire (bogs near York, and Thorne Waste).

The range abroad extends to Japan.

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 Hellins, 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 grass, 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 grassy 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 Cambridgeshire 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 identity. _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_).