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 is represented on Plate 110, Fig. 5, by a female specimen.
Sometimes the fore wings are more reddish brown in colour, and the markings
are occasionally bolder. The caterpillar is pale or dark reddish brown
above, and rather greyish below; the back is marked with dark outlined
diamonds, and the dark edged white spiracles have a dark shade above them,
and an ochreous stripe below; head pale brown marked with darker. Feeds on
primrose, dock, sorrel, nettle, etc. from September to May. The moth flies
in July, August, and the early part of September. It seems to be more
frequently and regularly obtained in Scotland, especially in the woods of
Perthshire, Aberdeen and Moray. In England the species is, or has been,
found in Oxfordshire (rare in beech woods), {221} Berkshire, Wiltshire
(Savernake Forest), Devonshire (Dartmoor), South Wales (near Swansea),
North Wales (Mold), Cheshire (one specimen, Staley-brushes), Yorkshire
(Scarborough), Durham (one at Bishop Auckland), Cumberland (Barrow Wood).
The range abroad includes Central Europe (except Holland and Belgium),
Southern Sweden, Lavonia, and South-east Russia, Armenia, and Northern Asia
Minor. It may be noted that Stephens, writing in 1829, considered this to
be a doubtful British species.
THE SETACEOUS HEBREW CHARACTER (_Noctua c-nigrum_).
A male specimen of this often common and generally distributed species is
shown on Plate 110, Fig. 8. The fore wings vary in colour, from pale
reddish grey through bright reddish or pinkish brown to purplish brown; the
costal mark may be whitish, ochreous, or pinkish tinged. The moth is most
frequently obtained in the autumn, but it is sometimes met with from May to
July.
The caterpillar is pale brownish or greenish grey, with two series of black
streaks, and a dark-edged pale central line, on the back; below the black
outlined white spiracles is a black-edged yellow ochreous, or whitish
stripe; head ochreous brown streaked with darker brown. It feeds on dock,
chickweed, groundsel, and other low plants. It is said to feed from
September to April or May. Possibly, however, in favourable seasons, some
may pupate either in the autumn or in the early months of the year, and so
attain the moth state greatly in advance of the majority. The range of this
species' distribution extends to India, Corea, Japan, and North America.
THE BLACK COLLAR (_Noctua flammatra_).
Fore wings pale greyish brown, with dark-edged pale cross lines; a pale
whitish brown pink-tinged streak along the front {222} margin to the second
line; below this is a short black dot; the reniform and orbicular marks are
pale, the centre sometimes darker, and the claviform has a dark edge but is
not distinct; the front of the thorax is broadly marked with black, hence
the English name.
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