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
From 1857, in which year the first specimen recorded as British was
captured in September at Plymouth, to 1874, one or more examples of this
interesting migrant seem to have occurred during the autumns of most years,
in some part of the British Isles, but chiefly in the South of England. The
years in which it was apparently unrecorded were 1860, 1861, 1870, 1872,
and 1873. Since 1874 there have been very few records. In 1879 a male
specimen was taken at Chingford, Essex, August 17th, and a female (ova
obtained) on September 1st; a specimen occurred at Christchurch, Hants,
October, 1893; a male was obtained in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset,
September, 1895, and one was secured at Timoleague, Co. Cork, in August,
1898; one was accounted for at Malvern, Worcestershire, in August, 1901; a
female in fine condition was captured, as it flew in the sunshine over a
Cambridgeshire meadow, in the autumn of 1906. Mr. H. M. Edelsten obtained a
male specimen in South Devon, on September 12, 1908. The largest number of
specimens appears to have been recorded in 1867, when nearly thirty were
secured, and of these four were taken in May in the Isle of Wight, where
also two females were captured on {142} August 14th and 16th, and one
specimen on September 3rd. Six or seven occurred during August in
Lancashire, and three in Perthshire, also in August.
The long caterpillar is variable, but is usually some shade of green above,
inclining to whitish beneath, and yellowish between the rings; the lines
along the back are paler green, reddish, and olive green. It feeds on
low-growing plants, such as knotgrass and dock, and has been reared from
the egg in August and September. If eggs were obtained in May it would be
possible to raise two generations of moths, or, perhaps, even three, during
the year.
The species is an inhabitant of Southern Europe and North Africa, and its
range extends to India, Madeira, and the Canaries. In Central Europe,
including the British Isles, its occurrence is always a more or less casual
event.
NOTE.--It is possibly incorrect to assign this species to _Sterrha_,
Hubner, which is adopted by some authors for the Acidaliid _ochraria_.
There is, however, considerable doubt among authorities about accepting the
Hubnerian genus, but Herrich-Schaffer's genus _Sterrha_ appears to be valid
and is here employed. If it has to give way, _Pseudosterrha_, Warren, or
_Rhodometra_, Meyrick, may have to be used.
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