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 white and ochreous-tinted specimens are found in Kent and Sussex
chiefly, whilst the ochreous-brown forms are more generally distributed in
England. Barrett states that in the south of Scotland a form occurs in
which the ground colour is very pale dull brown with all the darker
markings and cloudings deep umberous, the cloudings more extended. Var.
_capsophila_ {252} (The Pod Lover), which represents the species in Ireland
and the Isle of Man, is of a greyish coloration and lacks the ochreous
tint; the dark markings, especially on the area between the first and
second cross lines, are blackish or black, and the outlines of the stigmata
are very distinct. Kane mentions dull black specimens, from the Blasket
Islands, in which only vestiges of the stigmata and submarginal line
remained clear. Pembrokeshire specimens have a colour range intermediate
between _carpophaga_ (Plate 124, Fig. 9) and var. _capsophila_ (Figs. 7,
8), and serve to connect one with the other. The caterpillar, which is
purplish brown with rather broad ochreous-brown lines on the back, feeds in
June and July and again in September, on seeds of catchfly, campion, and
sweet-william. The moth flies in May and June, sometimes in late July and
August.
THE VIPER'S BUGLOSS (_Dianthoecia_ (_Epia_) _irregularis_).
The earliest British specimen of this moth (Plate 125, Fig. 1) of which
there is any clear record is that found by the late Rev. A. H. Wratislaw,
in July, 1868, resting on viper's bugloss (_Echium vulgare_), in a locality
about ten miles from Bury St. Edmunds. Subsequently Tuddenham was indicated
as the locality, and there, as well as in other parts of the Breck Sand
district of Suffolk and Norfolk the species continues to flourish. _Echium_
was at first supposed to be the food plant, but it was soon ascertained the
larval pabulum was the flowers and seeds of the local catchfly (_Silene
otites_). In September, 1870, Mr. Porritt described the caterpillar, and he
found that in confinement it did not object to Ragged Robin (_Lychnis
flos-cuculi_) in place of the _Silene_.
In colour the caterpillar is pale yellowish brown, tinged with green; three
more or less distinct pale lines, and a series of smoke-coloured V-shaped
marks on the back. Spiracles black with a yellowish white stripe below
them, and a smoke-coloured one above; head wainscot brown dotted with
black. It may be found on its food plant from late July to early September.
The moth flies in June and July, but seems to have been very rarely met
with in the open, although large numbers of the caterpillars, which are
frequently "ichneumoned," are collected almost every year. A specimen,
recently presented to the Lincoln Museum, is said to have been reared from
a caterpillar found on viper's bugloss in the neighbourhood of East Ferry
in North Lincolnshire.
[Illustration]
Pl. 124.
1. WHITE SPOT MOTH.
2. VARIED CORONET.
3, 4. LYCHNIS.
5, 6. CAMPION.
7, 8. POD LOVER.
9, 10. TAWNY SHEARS.
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