The Moths of the British Isles, Second Series: Comprising the Families Noctuidæ to HepialidæSouth, Richard
History
The Moths of the British Isles, Second Series: Comprising the Families Noctuidæ to Hepialidæ
South, Richard
Lepidoptera -- Great Britain; Moths -- Great Britain
day it hides among moss or litter, or in the crevices of bark, and at dark
may be found crawling up the trunks of ash trees.
[Illustration]
2 Pl. 6.
1. ORANGE UPPER-WING: _caterpillar_.
2. DOTTED CHESTNUT: _caterpillar_.
3. PINK-BARRED SALLOW: _eggs, natural size and enlarged_.
4, 4a. SALLOW: _eggs, natural size and enlarged, and caterpillar_.
[Illustration]
2 Pl. 7.
1-4. LUNAR UNDERWING.
5, 6. RED-LINE QUAKER.
7, 8. YELLOW-LINE QUAKER.
9, 10. THE BRICK.
{11} The moths are out in August and September, and in the late afternoon
may be seen, newly emerged from the chrysalis, on ash trunks, or on twigs
and herbage immediately around the tree stems. When on the wing at night it
is attracted by light, especially electric, and by sugar. Now that the
habits of the species are better known than formerly, it has been
ascertained to occur in most English counties. In Scotland it is widely
distributed up to Argyll and Perthshire; it has been recorded from several
parts of Wales, and in Ireland is found in counties Antrim, Tyrone,
Fermanagh, Down, Armagh, Louth, Westmeath, Wicklow, Sligo, Galway,
Tipperary, and Cork.
THE LUNAR UNDERWING (_Omphaloscelis_ (_Anchocelis_) _lunosa_).
In the general colour of the fore wings, this species, of which four
figures will be found on Plate 7, ranges from pale ochreous {12} brown to
dark blackish grey. The typical form (_lunosa_, Haworth) has the ground
colour pale, or bright, reddish (Figs. 1 and 3); the markings are well
defined, and the wing rays are sometimes pale ochreous, or whitish. Four
modifications of this form have been named; one of these has pale veins,
but the general colour is red brown (ab. _brunnea_, Tutt); in another (Fig.
2) the colour is ochreous brown, the veins pale, and the other markings
distinct (ab. _humilis_, Humph. and Westw.). Of the greyish forms, var.
_agrotoides_, Guenee, is the darkest (Fig. 4).
The caterpillar is brownish, inclining to greenish beneath; there are three
whitish lines along the back, the outer edged below with blackish; a thin
whitish line along the sides is shaded above with blackish. It feeds on
meadow grass (_Poa annua_), and other kinds of grass, from October to May.
The moth appears in September and October, sometimes at the end of August.
It is partial to light and to sugar, and where the latter is smeared over
the foliage of trees and bushes it seems better attended by this, and other
autumnal moths, than when painted on tree-trunks in the usual manner.
The species seems to be pretty generally distributed throughout Southern
and Western England, and in some seasons it is very common. Eastward and
through the Midlands it is perhaps less frequent; in the northern counties
it is scarce on the east, but locally common on the west. It occurs in
Wales; also in Scotland up to Perthshire. According to Kane, it is widely
distributed in Ireland, but most common on the coast.
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