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 moth is out in July and August, and frequents heaths, moor, and
mountain, in Scotland from Clydesdale (including Bute and Arran) to
Aberdeen and Ross, and the Isle of Lewis. A male specimen has been recorded
from Ireland (Dowros Head, co. Donegal, 1898). It may be found resting upon
rocks, stone walls, etc.; where these have suitable holes, crannies, or
projections they are selected as hiding places. Sometimes the moth has been
noted on the wing during the day, but at night it flies freely, and will
then visit light.
BLACK MOUNTAIN MOTH (_Psodos coracina_).
The smoky-grey species represented on Plate 139, Figs. 6 [male] 7 [female],
has two black lines on the fore wings; these are often edged with whitish,
and the space between them blackish; the submarginal line is whitish, and
the discal spot is black; the hind wings have a black central spot and two
pale lines or bands. The female is rather smaller and much paler. In both
sexes the central band of the fore wings is generally narrowed below the
middle, and sometimes it is completely divided at this point.
As regards the British Isles, this species is known only to occur in the
Highlands of Scotland. It is a day flyer, and very fond of sunshine, but
its favourite haunts are situated at elevations of from 2000 to 4000 feet.
{322}
NOTE.--Newman (_British Moths_, p. 68) figures this species as The Dusky
Carpet (_Mniophila cineraria_), and the insect, then known by the latter
name, is figured as _Psodos trepidaria_, a synonym of the present species.
In referring to this transposition of names, it may be well to add that _M.
cineraria_, catalogued as British by Doubleday, and stated by Stainton
(_Manual_ ii., p. 31) to have once occurred at Tenby, South Wales, can only
be regarded as an "accidental." The specimen, which is in the Natural
History Museum, at South Kensington, appears to be _Tephronia sepiaria_,
Hufnagel, which is the _cineraria_ of Hubner.
A moth, supposed to be a specimen of _Dasydia tenebraria_, Esper =
_torvaria_, Hubner, was reported as taken in Ireland "many years" before
1843, but at the present time that specimen, apparently, does not exist,
and there is no exact description of it extant.
NETTED MOUNTAIN MOTH (_Fidonia carbonaria_).
The white wings of this species (Plate 141, Figs. 1 [male], 2 [female]) are
freckled with blackish and crossed by black stripes; sometimes the
freckling is so heavy that the white ground colour is much obscured and
only distinctly seen as edging to the cross stripes.
The caterpillar is dingy ochreous or whity brown marked with wavy darker
stripes. It feeds at night on birch and sallow; _Vaccinium_, _Erica_,
bearberry (_Arctostaphylos uva-ursi_) have also been mentioned as food
plants.
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