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 English name of this very common moth (Plate 120, Figs. 4, 5), applies
to the majority of specimens, but now and then the ochreous, or yellow
reniform stigma, referred to as the brown eye, is blurred and indistinct,
and the white submarginal line may almost disappear. The ground colour of
the fore wings ranges from reddish or purple brown to dark brown. The
caterpillar (Plate 129, Fig. 1), varies from green to light brown,
sometimes the brownish forms are tinged with pink; the body is minutely
dotted with white, and the usual dots are black; the spiracles are white,
margined with black, and placed on the blackish edge of a yellow stripe;
there are three greyish, but frequently indistinct, lines on the back. It
feeds from July to September on most low plants, and is often found in
abundance under spreading clumps of goose-foot (_Chenopodium_), and has
been noted in profusion upon tamarisk growing by the sea. The moth flies in
June and July, sometimes in the autumn. Except, perhaps, in the Hebrides,
it has been found throughout the British Isles.
THE LIGHT BROCADE (_Mamestra genistæ_).
The moth portrayed on Plate 121, Fig. 1, is not given to much variation.
The central area enclosed by the cross lines is {242} more or less clouded
with reddish or purplish brown, not extending, as a rule, below the black
bar between the lines, but sometimes the inner area is clouded with
purplish from the second cross line to the base of the wing. The
caterpillar is pale olive greenish above, with brownish and blackish
diamonds or V-shaped markings; three lines on the back are dark-edged but
indistinct; a cloudy line along the white spiracles. The colour varies from
greenish to brownish grey or purplish brown, and all shades may occur in
the same brood. It feeds in July and August on broom, dyer's greenweed
(_Genista tinctoria_), persicaria, and other low plants. The moth is out in
May and June, and may be seen in the daytime on palings and other kinds of
fencing, and also on tree trunks. It occurs in England from Worcestershire
and Northampton southwards, but seems to be rarely met with northwards.
Four or five specimens were taken at electric light near Tarporley,
Cheshire, about 1900 (Day's List). It has been recorded from Ayr, Argyll,
and Paisley in Scotland, but its occurrence in Ireland is doubtful. The
distribution abroad ranges to Eastern Siberia.
THE DOG'S TOOTH (_Mamestra dissimilis_).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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