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
This white moth, prettily speckled with black and red dots, is a native of
warmer countries than ours. However, it not only visits us now and then in
the course of its wanderings, but if the migrants arrive in England at a
suitable time of the year, the females most probably deposit eggs from
which caterpillars may hatch, and some of them feed up and produce moths
later in the same year. Stephens, writing in 1829, mentions a specimen
taken many years previously in Yorkshire. This was no doubt the earliest
known British example of Haworth's Crimson Speckled. A second specimen
captured in a field near Christchurch, Hants, in October, 1818, was figured
by Samouelle in 1819. Between the year last mentioned and 1827, two other
specimens occurred, both at Hove, Sussex. Stainton (1857) adds Epping,
Manchester, Stowmarket, and Worthing. In 1869 {170} three specimens were
taken in the autumn; and a specimen was found at Scarborough in June, 1870,
and one in Sussex. In 1871 a record was established, when at least thirty
specimens were obtained at various places on the east, south, and
south-west coasts, and in the Isle of Wight; one specimen being also
recorded from Manchester. Two specimens were taken in Cornwall, May, 1874,
and in the autumn of that year three occurred on the south coast, and one
in Derbyshire. The moth seems not to have been noticed in the springs of
1875 or 1876, but twenty-four specimens were recorded later in the former
year, and twenty-three in the latter. Between 1876 and 1892 less than
twenty specimens were reported altogether, and the species was either
entirely absent or overlooked in 1877, 1882, 1883, and from 1887 to 1891,
inclusive. In 1892 several moths were captured in May and June on the
coast; one at Brighton in July, two in the Hastings' district, and one at
Folkestone in August. Since 1892 and up to 1907, a period of fifteen years,
the species seems to have been rarely noted in England; the records showing
in 1894 (2), 1895 (1), 1906 (1). In 1901 three specimens were reported as
captured, and one seen at Earlsfield, Surrey, July 1 to 15. (Plate 92,
Figs. 3, 4.)
The caterpillar is greyish with black warts from which arise tufts of
hairs, blackish on the back and pale greyish on the sides; a white line on
the back, and one on the sides. Each ring is often barred with orange. Head
reddish-ochreous marked with black. Feeds on forget-me-not (_Myosotis_),
borage (_Borago_), etc. The chrysalis is reddish brown, enclosed in a white
silken cocoon spun up among the food plant, or on the surface of the
ground; in the latter case particles of earth adhere to the outside.
[Illustration]
Pl. 90.
1, 2, 4, 5, 6. SPECKLED FOOTMAN MOTH.
3. FEATHERED FOOTMAN MOTH.
[Illustration]
Pl. 91.
SPECKLED FOOTMAN: _eggs and caterpillar_.
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