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 species was not known to occur in any part of the British Isles until
August, 1861, when the late Mr. C. G. Barrett took four specimens on the
Hill of Howth in Ireland (_vide Ent. Annual_, 1862, p. 106). A large number
were subsequently captured or reared from caterpillars obtained in the same
locality by others. Kane ("Cat. Lep. Ireland") remarks that the colony
flourished at Howth for many years, but that the species seemingly perished
in the severe winters of 1878 or 1879, and unless a specimen taken in 1890
was this species, has not since been seen there. The only other Irish
locality from which it has been recorded (August, 1866) is on the coast
near Waterford. Torquay, where the species was first observed in 1864 is
now a noted locality, and it is said to occur in certain spots along the
coast to Babbicombe. Other localities in Devon are Dartmouth, Torcross, and
Bolt Head. Barrett found the species rarely in two places by the sea in
South Pembrokeshire, and mentions Rye in Sussex, and Romney Marsh in Kent,
as localities where specimens have occurred.
Mr. J. Walker informs me that the moths fly at dusk, and {187} that they
all seem to get active at almost the same moment, and settle again in the
same way at the end of their first flight, which lasts about half an hour.
After dark the rays of an acetylene lamp directed downwards into the bushes
will attract them from their retreat. Occasionally they visit "sugar."
Abroad this is a southern species, but its range extends to Western
Germany, the Tyrol, Switzerland, and South Hungary, as well as to England;
also to Asia Minor.
THE ORANGE FOOTMAN (_Lithosia sororcula_).
This moth is orange yellow on the fore wings, and a paler shade of the same
colour on the hind wings. Except that the tint is brighter in some
specimens and darker in others, there is nothing to mention in the way of
aberration. (Plate 99, Figs. 6, 7.)
The caterpillar is white on the back with five black stripes, the outer
ones broader than the others; all these stripes are broken up by brownish
patches, and they fail to show at all on the eighth ring, which, therefore,
is conspicuously white; the sides are smoky grey marked with white on the
second and third rings; the warts are reddish, bearing smoky grey hairs. It
may be found from July to September on the lichens growing on the trunks of
oak trees. The moth does not appear until the following May or June, when
it may be beaten from branches. Not uncommon in the woods, chiefly oak, of
Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent, Surrey, Hampshire, and Dorset; it also
occurs in Cambridgeshire and Sussex. In Berkshire and Bucks it is fairly
common, but seems to affect the beech woods in those counties. Recorded
from Ireland by Birchall, who stated that it was abundant at Killarney.
THE DOTTED FOOTMAN (_Pelosia muscerda_).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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