The Moths of the British Isles, Second Series: Comprising the Families Noctuidæ to Hepialidæ — John Shaqi
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
The caterpillar is pinkish grey-brown, with three paler lines and a series
of purplish diamonds along the back; the sides are mottled with purplish
brown above the black spiracles, and striped with ochreous grey below them.
According to Buckler, whose description is here adapted, the four pale
raised dots circled with dark brown, placed within the dark marks on the
back of each ring, serve to distinguish this caterpillar from its {22}
allies. It feeds on the seeds of wych-elm, and may be beaten or jarred from
the branches in April and May. The moth is out in the autumn.
THE PALE-LEMON SALLOW (_Mellinia_ (_Xanthia_) _ocellaris_).
Although sparsely marked yellowish examples of the last species have been
mistaken for the present one, the true _M. ocellaris_ was not known to
occur in Britain until 1893, when three specimens were taken at Wimbledon
and Twickenham. In 1894 a specimen was recorded from Bognor in Sussex, and
another in West Dulwich. The following year one specimen was taken at
Richmond, Surrey, and one at Ipswich, Suffolk. Three specimens were
obtained at sugar in 1899, and five others in 1900, in a locality in North
Kent. Odd specimens have also been noted as follows:--Suffolk, Beccles
(1898), Woodbridge (1899); West Norfolk (1904 and 1906); Cambridge (1907).
The caterpillar, which is ochreous grey with black dots, feeds on poplar,
and is stated by one continental author to live in the buds and catkins
when young, and afterwards on low plants. So far, it has not been detected
in England.
A German specimen of the moth is depicted on Plate 10, Fig. 11. From the
last species this one is easily separated by the more pointed fore wings,
by the white dot at lower end of the reniform stigma, and by the different
shaped cross lines.
The moth has been taken at sugar or light in September and October.
THE ORANGE UPPER-WING (_Xantholeuca_ (_Hoporina_) _croceago_).
This species is shown in its typical form on Plate 10, Fig. 12.
Occasionally a dull reddish-brown form (ab. _latericolor_, Raynor) occurs,
of which I some years ago reared several examples, {23} from eggs laid by a
female taken at sallow in Darenth Wood, Kent.
The caterpillar (Plate 6, Fig. 1) is pale ochreous brown, inclining to
orange, finely freckled with brown, and with brown V-marks on the back of
rings 4 to 11; the line along the middle of the back is pale yellow, and
there are two pale yellow spots on ring 11; head, pale brown, freckled with
darker brown, and sometimes rosy tinged. It feeds on oak, and may be found
in May and June.
The moth flies in September and October, and then visits ivy bloom and
sugar at night; after hibernation it comes to sallow bloom. It has been
found during the winter between dry leaves on oak twigs in the hedgerows.
Females taken late in the spring and enclosed in a chip box will probably
deposit a good supply of eggs; caterpillars hatching from them are not
difficult to rear.
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