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 next record of the moth appears in the _Zoologist_ for 1852. "On the
11th of September a specimen of _Chærocampa nerii_ was taken in Montpelier
Road, Brighton, by a young gentleman at school, while it was hovering over
a passion flower." Two caterpillars were found in a garden at Eastbourne,
feeding upon the leaves of potato, in October, 1859. In confinement they
ate periwinkle, but they were not reared. The following records are, except
where otherwise stated, of single specimens of the moth: Hastings, August
2, 1862; Sheffield, September 14, 1867; St. Leonards, October, 1868 (? 2
examples); Ascot, June, 1873; Lewes, September 3, 1874; Hemel Hempstead,
October 15, 1876; Tottenham, Middlesex, Eastbourne, Sussex, and Blandford,
Dorset, September, 1884; Hartlepool and Prestwich, July, 1885; Brighton,
September 7, 1886; Poplar, September 20, 1888; Dartmouth, September 26,
1890; Stowling, Kent, July, 1896; Yalding, Kent, September 18, Teignmouth,
October 23, 1900; Banhead, Scotland, end September, 1901; Liverpool, in a
steamship, and Atherstone, Warwickshire, October, 1903; Eastbourne, July
14, 1904; Lancaster, September 18, 1906. A specimen of _Daphnis hypothous_,
Cramer, a native of India, Borneo, Java, and Ceylon, was captured at
Crieff, Perthshire, in July, 1873, and was recorded as _D. nerii_, and the
error was not rectified until 1891.
It will be seen from the above that the moth is exceedingly {48} rare in
these islands. The species is an inhabitant of Africa, and its normal range
extends along both sides of the Mediterranean through Asia Minor and Syria
to India. In Europe, north of the Alps, the moth is seldom observed, and it
is probably almost as scarce on most of the Continent as it is with us.
THE SMALL ELEPHANT (_Metopsilus_ (_Chærocampa_) _porcellus_).
The fore wings of this hawk-moth are ochreous with a faint olive tinge; the
front margin is edged and blotched with pinkish, and there is a broad but
irregular band of the same colour on the outer margin. Hind wings blackish
on upper margin, pinkish on outer margin, and ochreous tinged with olive
between; fringes chequered whitish, sometimes tinged with pink. Head,
thorax, and body pinkish, more or less variegated with olive; the thorax
has a patch of white hairs above the base of the wings (Plate 19, Figs. 3,
4).
In most specimens there are at least traces of two cross-lines in the fore
wings, the space between these is sometimes brownish olive; the outer
border of the hind wings varies in tint, and may be purplish. Occasionally
the ground colour of the fore wings is greenish olive.
A hybrid, resulting from a pairing between _Chærocampa elpenor_ and
_Metopsilus porcellus_ has been named _elpenorcellus_ (Staud).
The egg is a rich full green and rather glossy; it is laid in June on
yellow bedstraw and other kinds of _Galium_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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