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
Caterpillar, pale brownish inclining to ochreous; on each side of an
irregular blackish line along the centre of the back is a pale yellowish
line, and there are white spots on the back of the middle rings. It feeds
on _Clematis_, in August and September. The moth is out in June and July,
and will be found in similar localities to those mentioned for the previous
species, and, except that it has not been recorded from Lancaster, its
range in England is much about the same.
The distribution abroad extends to Japan.
OBLIQUE CARPET (_Coenocalpe vittata_).
This species, also known as _lignata_, Hubner, is usually pale brown in
ground colour, tinged with ochreous or pinkish; the darker oblique stripes
vary in width and in intensity. (Plate 102, Figs. 9 [male], gen. 1; 10
[male], gen. 2.)
The caterpillar is of a yellow-green colour, inclining to {258} ochreous
brown on the upper portions of the middle rings; a darker irregular line
along the back, and a whitish line on each side, the latter edged above and
below with a fine black line; below the spiracles is a pale pinkish brown
stripe. Varies in the tint of ground colour and in the markings. It feeds,
after hibernation, on bedstraw (_Galium palustre_, _G. saxatile_, etc.),
and caterpillars from eggs laid in June may be reared on clematis, wild or
cultivated.
The moth is out in May and June, sometimes later, and a second generation
appears in August and September; the individuals of the later brood are
often smaller than those of the first brood. Its haunts are fens, marshes,
and water-meads, but in Middlesex I have taken a specimen or two flying
along a weedy ditch. Widely distributed throughout the British Isles, but
not noted in Scotland north of Moray.
THE GEM (_Percnoptilota fluviata_).
Also known in the vulgar tongue as "The Narrow-barred Carpet." As will be
seen on reference to Plate 102, the male (Fig. 12) is pale brown with a
dark central band; and the female (Fig. 11) is purplish brown, the central
band rather blackish, and on it is the discal mark, a black centred white
spot. The specimens figured are rather small.
The following aberrations have been named--ab. _marginata_, Mathew, with
the fringes of all the wings conspicuously pinky-grey; ab. _olivacea_,
Mathew, a form of the female with olive brown fore wings; ab. _obsoleta_,
Mathew, a form of the male with the dark central band nearly or quite
absent.
[Illustration]
2 Pl. 102.
1, 2. DENTATED PUG.
3, 4. DARK SPINACH.
5. MANY-LINED.
6. SLENDER-STRIPED RUFOUS.
7. SMALL WAVED UMBER.
8. THE FERN.
9, 10. OBLIQUE CARPET.
11, 12. THE GEM.
[Illustration]
2 Pl. 103.
1-5. MAGPIE MOTH.
6-8. CLOUDED MAGPIE.
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