The Moths of the British Isles, First Series: Comprising the Families Sphingidæ to NoctuidæSouth, Richard
History
The Moths of the British Isles, First Series: Comprising the Families Sphingidæ to Noctuidæ
South, Richard
Lepidoptera -- Great Britain; Moths -- Great Britain
The moth emerges in June, and seems partial to marshy ground. It is found
in the district between Dover and Deal commonly, and in other parts of Kent
more rarely. Also in Hampshire, Devon, Dorset, South Wales,
Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Berkshire (water meadows by the Kennet), and
Hertfordshire (rare). Some years ago I found a few specimens in the Brandon
district, but it is not plentiful in Suffolk, and is rare in or absent from
Norfolk. It is found in Cambridgeshire, chiefly in Wicken fen.
NOTE.--Although _Callimorpha_ is here left in its old position among
Arctiidæ, the genus has been referred by Hampson to Hypsidæ, a family of
moths belonging to the African, Oriental, and Australian regions. Our two
species are the sole representatives of the family in Europe.
THE FEATHERED FOOTMAN (_Coscinia striata_).
Altogether there do not appear to have been more than six or seven
specimens of this species (Plate 90) recorded as British. Stephens mentions
three of these, two males taken in the autumn of 1815, near Windsor; and
one specimen, without date, in the Isle of Anglesea. Of the others one
appears to have been taken in Yorkshire (1832), one in Essex, and another
in North Wales (1859). Barrett also refers to a specimen, which was
captured but afterwards escaped, near Bettws-y-Coed, North Wales, June,
1859, and gives some circumstantial details of the event. It appears,
therefore, that of the very limited number of British _striata_ North Wales
has furnished almost half. The species is widely distributed in Europe,
except the most northern part; the range extending into Asia Minor, Syria,
Armenia, and Amurland. Abroad, it occurs on heaths, and in warm dry places.
The caterpillar is blackish-brown, {168} marked with orange on the back,
and white on the sides; the warts are yellowish, and the hairs arising
therefrom are reddish brown; the head is black. It feeds in spring, after
hibernation, on grasses, heather, and low herbage, and becomes full grown
in May.
THE SPECKLED FOOTMAN (_Coscinia cribrum_).
The fore wings are whitish, crossed by three rows of blackish grey dots,
more or less connected, forming lines; and two streaks of the same colour
through the length of the wings, but not always extending to the outer
margin; a cross series of wedge-shaped marks or dots on the outer area;
hind wings grey. Sometimes the fore wings are wholly suffused with the
darker colour, and between such specimens and less frequent examples in
which the wings are almost devoid of marking, there are many gradations
(Plate 90, Figs. 1 [male], 2 [female]; 4, 5, 6 vars.).
Eggs received from the New Forest, June 25, 1907, were laid around a
slender, bare, twig of heather, the batch measuring about three-quarters of
an inch in length. At first they were golden yellow, but afterwards became
pale purplish brown and very glossy (Plate 91).
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