Part 26

The caterpillar is dingy ochreous or whity brown marked with wavy darker stripes. It feeds at night on birch and sallow; _Vaccinium_, _Erica_, bearberry (_Arctostaphylos uva-ursi_) have also been mentioned as food plants.

In April and May, the moth, which is to be found locally, high up on the mountains of Scotland from Perthshire to Ross, is on the wing, and flies in the sunshine. Writing of this species at Rannoch in May (about 17th), 1905, Mr. E. A. Cockayne remarks that the moths began to fly about noon, {323} when they appeared on all sides and were fairly active on the wing.

The distribution abroad is northern and Alpine, and the range extends to North-east Siberia.

FROSTED YELLOW (_Fidonia limbaria_).

This black-bordered orange-yellow species (Plate 141, Fig. 3) is not likely to be confused with any other occurring in Britain. The wings are more or less sprinkled with black, but this is usually most noticeable on the hind wings which are sometimes thickly sprinkled, or, more rarely, the yellow ground colour is entirely obscured. The form with a black discal spot on all the wings has been named ab. _quadripunctaria_, Fuchs. In ab. _fumata_, Mathew, the orange yellow is replaced by smoky umber brown, tinged with orange, and dusted with black atoms (bred July, 1899).

The caterpillar is greenish with grey-edged yellowish lines along the back, and a black-edged yellow one along the sides. The ground colour is sometimes purplish brown. It feeds on broom chiefly, but will eat other Genisteae. There appears to be two broods, one in June, and the other in September, or earlier sometimes. The moth is out in May and early June, and again in July and August, but it has been known to remain in the chrysalis for four years. It flies in the sunshine, and when resting, it sits like a butterfly, with its wings brought together over its back.

Stephens (1831) states that the species was "not uncommon among high broom in the vicinity of Birch-wood in Kent." Later authors give Stowmarket (common), Needham, Barham, and Ipswich, in Suffolk. There are no recent records from the county of Kent; and not much has been heard of the species from Suffolk, although it may still exist, in greatly reduced numbers, in some of its old haunts therein. {324}

COMMON HEATH (_Ematurga atomaria_).

Four specimens of this variable species are shown on Plate 141 (Figs. 4, 5 [male], 6, 7 [female]). The general colour of all the wings in the male is ochreous, inclining to whitish or to brownish. Usually the wings are speckled with brown, and the cross lines, or bands, are dark brown. Occasionally the cross markings are absent; but more frequently the three lines on the fore wings are much broadened and more or less united, sometimes forming a central band in which are a few ochreous scales towards the front margin: ab. _obsoletaria_, Zetterstedt. Dark brown or blackish specimens (ab. _unicolorata_, Staudinger) are captured now and then in the southern counties of England, but such uniform dark varieties are more frequent in the north (Staffordshire and Yorkshire). The female is white in colour, and usually only lightly speckled with blackish; the cross lines are more conspicuous, as a rule, than in the male, but they are subject to pretty much the same kind of aberration. Sometimes examples of this sex greatly resemble _Fidonia carbonaria_, and have been confused with that species by Haworth and other entomologists in the past. An abnormal specimen with six wings has been recorded, and Barrett mentions a gynandrous example--the right side like a small dark female, and the left an ordinary male; both antennae shortly pectinated.

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.

2 Pl. 142. 1. V-MOTH: _caterpillar_. 2. YELLOW BELLE: _caterpillars_. 3. BORDERED GREY: _caterpillar_. 4. GREY SCALLOPED BAR: _caterpillar_.

2 Pl. 143. 1, 2. BORDERED GREY. 3. V-MOTH. 4, 5. RANNOCH LOOPER. 6. BROWN SILVER-LINE. 7-9. LATTICED HEATH.

{325}

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 Berkshire. 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 sex 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 Dorsetshire, and in Surrey; also noted from Berkshire. It is scarce in Cheshire, fairly common on the Witherslack mosses in North Lancashire, and at Ullswater in Cumberland. 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.

Abroad, the range extends to Amurland, and a form is found in Labrador.

RANNOCH LOOPER (_Thamnonoma brunneata_).

All the wings are of a rusty ochreous colour, sometimes, chiefly in the male, inclining to a purplish tint on the fore wings; the brownish cross lines are usually most distinct in the female, which sex Hubner figured as _pinetaria_. (Plate 143, Figs. 4 [male], 5 [female].)

The caterpillar is reddish brown, with a black-edged dark-green irregular line along the middle of the back; a white line on each side of the central one, and following this are a dark-brown shade-like stripe and some brownish-green lines; the line along the spiracles is whitish, inclining to yellow. In general appearance it closely resembles a twig of bilberry (_Vaccinium_), upon the foliage of which plant the caterpillar feeds in the spring.

The moth is out in June and July, but in the British Isles it is only to be obtained in Perthshire and northwards in Scotland. Black-wood, Loch Rannoch, is the original, and a now well-known, locality for this species, which Curtis in 1828 figured as _Speranza sylvaria_.

The range abroad extends to Amurland and Japan, and to North America.

BROWN SILVER-LINE (_Lozogramma_ (_Phasiane_) _petraria_).

The two cross lines on the pale-brown, sometimes pinkish, fore wings, are edged with whitish, but this is most distinct on {328} the outer one. In some specimens there is a distinct submarginal line, but this character is only faintly in evidence as a rule, and occasionally it is entirely absent. (Plate 143, Fig. 6.)

The caterpillar feeds in June, sometimes earlier, on bracken or brake-fern (_Pteris aquilina_). It is olive green marked with reddish brown lines, and there is a whitish line under the black spiracles.

In most English and Welsh localities where bracken is plentiful, this moth should be found in May and June; also in the south of Scotland, but its occurrence in that country north of Clydesdale appears to be only casual. It is common in several parts of Ireland.

The distribution abroad includes Amurland and Japan.

LATTICED HEATH (_Chiasmia_ (_Strenia_) _clathrata_).

In its ground colour this species (Plate 143, Figs. 7, 8 [male], 9 [female]) varies from ochreous of some shade to white. The dark-brown or blackish cross lines and veins give a latticed appearance to the wings, hence both the Latin and popular names for this insect. There is much variation in the width of the cross markings; sometimes two or more unite and so form bands; more rarely, perhaps, the outer lines are absent, and the others broken up into dashes; or the blackish cross lines may be slender and the veins remain of the ochreous ground colour (ab. _radiata_, Haworth). A less frequent aberration has the wings dark brown or blackish all over, except a row of whitish or ochreous spots on the outer margins (ab. _nocturnata_, Fuchs = _nigricans_, Oberthur).

The caterpillar, which feeds on clovers and trefoils, is green, with white lines along the back and sides; the slightly notched head is rather glossy, and the mouth is brownish: June to September, in two broods.

The first generation of the moth is out in April and May, and {329} the second in July and August. It may be found in clover fields and on chalk slopes, etc., where the food plants flourish; although it is an active day flyer, it is not difficult to capture with the net. It is most plentiful in southern and eastern England, but its range extends throughout the United Kingdom to Clydesdale, and the species is widely distributed in Ireland.

The distribution abroad extends to East Siberia, Amurland, and Japan.

GREY SCALLOPED BAR (_Scodiona fagaria_).

In its typical form this species (also known as _belgiaria_, Hubner) is grey, more or less tinged with ochreous, speckled with brownish grey, and crossed by black-marked brownish-grey lines. The bulk of British specimens, especially those from southern localities, are whitish grey, thinly sprinkled with darker grey scales in the male, and sometimes heavily powdered in the female; a pair are figured on Plate 144, 1 [male], 2 [female]. The whiter form of the male, occurring in Britain chiefly in the New Forest, Hampshire, has been named _albidaria_, Staudinger.

The roughened caterpillar is figured on Plate 142 (photo by H. Main). In general colour it is dingy brown, with a whitish stripe along the back and some greyish marking on the sides. It feeds on ling and heath; growing slowly in the late summer, but more quickly in the spring, after hibernation, when it may be obtained at night from the tips of the heather twigs, either by searching or by means of the sweeping net. The moth is out in June and July in the south, and later in the north. It is found on moist heaths, moors, and mosses; when resting on the dark-coloured earth it so closely resembles a stone that it is probably frequently passed unnoticed.

The species is apparently more plentiful in the New Forest than in its other known southern localities (Kent, Surrey, Berkshire, Sussex, and Dorset). Its range northwards in England {330} extends from Worcestershire (Malvern, rare) to Cumberland and Northumberland. It seems to be distributed over the greater part of Scotland, including the Hebrides and the Orkneys. In Wales it has been recorded from Flint, Denbigh, and Carnarvon; and it is widely spread over Ireland, occurring chiefly on the bogs.

BLACK-VEINED MOTH (_Scoria lineata_).

This slightly ochreous tinged silky white moth has the veins of the wings blackish, and this is especially noticeable on the underside of the fore wings. A male specimen is shown on Plate 144, Fig. 3; the wings of the female are slightly smaller, and the body is stouter and shorter. This species is the _dealbata_ of Linnaeus, but _lineata_, Scopoli, is older by four years. The long caterpillar is greyish inclining to ochreous or brownish; several irregular darker lines on the back and sides. It feeds, in confinement, on knot-grass, dock, bird's-foot trefoil, etc., but in the open is said to eat wood grasses, such as _Brachypodium_, upon the blades of which the female moth has been seen to deposit eggs: July to May. The moth is out from late May through June; it flies in the sunshine, or rests among long grass, etc., from which it is readily disturbed. Its chief British haunts are in Kent (Higham, Wye, etc.); but it has been recorded from Sussex, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucester, and Herefordshire, chiefly in single specimens.

Abroad, the range extends to Amurland.

STRAW BELLE (_Aspilates gilvaria_).

This straw-coloured species (Plate 144, Fig. 4 [male], 6 [female]) will be easily recognised by the brownish stripe on the fore wings, which extends from the front margin, near the tip, almost to the inner {331} margin; this is sometimes faint, but rarely quite absent. The hind wings are paler and have a dusky central dot and incomplete band. The caterpillar, which in shape is somewhat similar to that of the next species, is ochreous grey inclining to pinkish on the sides; a dark almost blackish line along the middle of the back is edged on each side with pale ochreous, and there are other pale and dark lines along the sides. It feeds on thyme, cinquefoil, yarrow, and other low-growing plants; it may be reared on knot grass: September to June. The moth is out in July and August, and, although very local, is not uncommon on downs and hilly fields on the chalk in Kent and Surrey--Dover, Folkestone, and Rochester in the former county, and Leatherhead, Box Hill, and Reigate in the latter, are the best-known localities. It has also been reported from Sussex (Brighton, Horsham, near Polgate, Shoreham). In Devonshire it is said to occur at Braunton and Ilfracombe, but is scarce. In his catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Suffolk (1890) the Rev. E. N. Bloomfield notes the species as very plentiful in clover fields about Tuddenham. Also recorded from Somerset, Gloucestershire, Cheshire (West Kirby and Hale), and from near Harrow in Middlesex.

Very local and scarce in Ireland (Kane).

The range abroad extends to East Siberia and Amurland.

YELLOW BELLE (_Aspilates ochrearia_).

As will be seen from Fig. 5 [female] on Plate 144, this species differs from the last in its yellower colour and rather smaller size; the fore wings have two cross bands, generally well defined, but in the male they are sometimes very faint and slender, and specimens have been recorded in which the bands were missing.

The roughened caterpillar, figured on Plate 142, from a coloured drawing by Mr. A. Sich, is pale ochreous brown, lined and striped with darker brown. It feeds on wild carrot, plantain, {332} hawks'-beard, etc., and will thrive on knot-grass. There are two broods, one feeding in the spring, after hibernation; and the other in June and July, sometimes later. The first generation of moths flies in May and June, and the second in August and early September. The species occurs in all the southern seaboard counties of England from Kent to Cornwall, frequenting the downs and rough fields near the coast; also in the Sandbreck district of the eastern counties. It occurs in South Wales; and odd specimens have been reported from Cheshire (Delamere), and from Cumberland.

The range abroad extends to North-west Africa and Asia Minor.

GRASS WAVE (_Perconia_ (_Aspilates_) _strigillaria_).

A male and a female of this species are depicted on Plate 144, Figs. 7 [male] and 8 [female]. There is variation in the amount of dark speckling on the wings, and in the number and width of the cross markings; sometimes the first and second on the fore wings are united throughout their length, or towards the inner margin; coupled with this there is sometimes considerable increase in the width of the first cross marking of the hind wings. A rare variety in Britain is ab. _grisearia_, Staudinger, which is of an almost uniform greyish or greyish-brown colour, with the markings obscured.

The caterpillar is purplish grey, marked with paler and darker; two warts on the back of rings 7-10, the middle pair the largest and most prominent. It feeds on ling, heath, broom, and the flowers of gorse or furze, and is best obtained in the spring after hibernation.

2 Pl. 144. 1, 2. GREY SCALLOPED BAR. 3. BLACK-VEINED. 4, 5. YELLOW BELLE. 6. STRAW BELLE. 7, 8. GRASS WAVE.

2 Pl. 145. 1. TRANSPARENT BURNET: _caterpillar_. 2, 2a. NARROW-BORDERED FIVE-SPOT BURNET: _caterpillar, chrysalis and cocoon_. 3, 3a. FIVE-SPOT BURNET: _caterpillar and cocoon_. 4. SIX-SPOT BURNET: _caterpillar_. 5. FORESTER: _caterpillar_.

{333} The moth, which is out in June and July, occurs on most of the heaths and moors throughout England; apparently commoner and more generally distributed in the south than in the north; but it seems to be rare on the eastern side of the country altogether. From Cheshire it spreads into Flint and Denbigh, North Wales. In Scotland, it is found in Roxburgh (Bellion Moor), Clydesdale (local, but common), and northwards to Ross. It is found on the boggy heaths of Ireland, and Kane states that it is abundant where it occurs.

The range abroad extends to Scandinavia and eastward to Asia Minor.

ZYGAENIDAE.

The moths belonging to this family are popularly known in Britain as Burnets and Foresters. Of the former seven kinds occur in the British Isles, and of the latter there are only three species.

All the species live in colonies, so that when a specimen is seen or captured others may be expected to occur on, or somewhere around, the same spot. The caterpillars bear a close resemblance to each other, and are not always easily distinguished.

Over thirty species of _Zygaena_ are found in Europe, and about thirty-six more have been described from other parts of the Palaearctic Region. There are at least twenty-five Palaearctic species referred to the genus Ino, and about ten of these are European.

By most authors _filipendulae_ is regarded as the type of the genus _Zygaena_, Fabricius; but others refer this species, and its allies, to the genus _Anthrocera_, Scopoli, using the Fabrician genus for _phegea_, Linnaeus. The latter species and its allies are perhaps more frequently referred to _Syntomis_, Ochsenheimer, the typical genus of the family Syntomidae, the systematic position of which is near the Arctiidae. It may be added that _S. phegea_, and also _Naclia ancilla_, have been reported as British. There does not seem, however, to be any reason to suppose that the occurrence of either species in Britain could be other than accidental. {334}

THE TRANSPARENT BURNET (_Zygaena purpuralis_).

Two Welsh specimens are depicted on Plate 146, Figs. 1 and 2; these are of the typical form. A rare aberration has the spots and the hind wings more or less suffused with blackish (ab. _obscura_, Tutt), but a still rarer variety has the crimson of spots and hind wings replaced by yellow (ab. _lutescens_, Tutt).

Newman in 1861 referred an Irish specimen to _achilleae_, but a little later, after seeing other examples, in the same year he changed the name to _nubiginea_. Birchall (_Ent. Mo. Mag._, iii. pt. i.) figured four forms of the species from Ireland; his _minos_ (Figs. 5a and 5b) seems to represent two modifications of ab. _interrupta_, Staudinger, in which form the red blotches are widely separated or interrupted by the ground colour; and his _nubigena_ is made up of more or less typical _purpuralis_ (Fig. 6a), and a variety (Fig. 6b), with red marks between the lower and central blotches.

The caterpillar (Plate 145, Fig. 1) is dark green inclining to olive above and paler below; the spots are black (outer row) and yellow (inner row); the line along the back is obscure whitish; hairs, whitish. It feeds on thyme and burnet saxifrage (_Pimpinella_). _Trifolium_ and _Lotus_ have also been given among other food plants. In late summer, and after hibernation, in the spring. The moth flies in June, and is locally common in Ireland (Clare and Galway), Wales (Abersoch), and Scotland (Oban, Loch Etive). It has been reported from Tintagel, Cornwall, and possibly, as suggested by Tutt, these Cornish specimens may turn out to be _Z. achilleae_, the latest addition to our small band of Burnets. Perhaps the Scottish specimens recorded as _purpuralis_, or at least some of them, may prove to be _achilleae_.

This species was figured by Brunnich, in 1763, as _purpuralis_, and authorities are now agreed that this name must be adopted in place of _pilosellae_, Esper (1781), or _minos_, Fuessly (1782). {335}

SCOTCH OR MOUNTAIN BURNET (_Zygaena exulans_).

This semi-transparent and rather greyish moth has five reddish spots on the fore wings. (Plate 146, Fig. 3.) So far as concerns the British Isles it is only known to occur in Aberdeenshire, where it was discovered on the mountains at Braemar in July, 1871, and where it may be still found by those who are acquainted with the situation of its lofty haunts. The late Dr. Buchanan White named the Scottish form _subochracea_, but others consider that it is not readily separable from _vanadis_, Dalman, which in turn is said by Tutt to be pretty much the same form of the species as that described as the type _exulans_, Hochenwarth.