The Ruby Tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa).
The English name given to this moth only suitably applies to the southern reddish form of the species (Plate [80], Fig. 1 ♂). In the north of England the fore wings are darkened with brownish and the hind wings with blackish tints, until in Scotland the only trace of red colour is found on the inner edge of the hind wings (var. borealis, Staudinger, Fig. 2 ♀). In these dark specimens the body is also blackish. Very occasionally, specimens approaching the northern form are obtained in South England. A female moth captured by Mr. G. E. J. Crallan in May, 1901, at Bournemouth, laid forty-eight eggs; thirty imagines were bred the same year, two of which were borealis. On the south and south-west coasts the black band of the hind wings exhibit a tendency to break up into spots; not infrequently this is completely effected, and the specimens then approach the larger South European form var. fervida, Staud. In a fine series of this species from Cornwall, lately seen in Mr. A. Harrison's collection, are a few specimens that come very close to the last-named form. A yellow aberration has been recorded. The eggs are whitish and deposited in batches on leaves. Up to the last moult the caterpillar is greyish or brownish, with dark greyish or blackish
warts from which arise star-like tufts of brown hairs; a reddish line along the middle of the back, and some reddish spots on the sides. When full grown it is black, and the reddish line on the back is almost hidden by closer and more compact tufts of black hairs. Head black and glossy.
The leaves of various low-growing plants afford it nourishment, but it is very partial to dock, dandelion, golden-rod (Solidago), and plantain; it is also fond of groundsel and lettuce in confinement, but these plants have been found unsuitable if given too frequently. In the open it seems to feed through the summer, hibernate when full grown, reappear in the early spring, and in due course spin its brownish cocoon among herbage generally low down near the ground; on moors it often makes the cocoon among the twigs of heather as shown on Plate [81]. The chrysalis is black, marked with yellowish on the hind edge of each ring. The vitality of the caterpillar is extraordinary. One known to have been embedded in ice for fourteen days at least, became active in less than half an hour after the ice around it melted. It pupated shortly afterwards.
When eggs are obtained early, it is possible to have three generations of the moth during the same year. Thus eggs deposited on May 8 produced caterpillars which fed up quickly and attained the moth state in July. From July eggs some of the caterpillars will outstrip their companions, pupate in September, and appear as moths about a month later. The moth is to be found in May and June, sometimes in July or August, in wood clearings, on moors and rough hillsides, and also in water meadows, etc. It flies at night, is attracted by light, and although it occasionally flies in the sunshine, it is, as a rule, not often seen in the daytime. Occurs throughout the British Isles to the Orkneys. Distribution: Europe, Western and Central Asia, Amurland, Japan, North-west Africa, North America.
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| Pl. 80. | ||
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| Pl. 81. | ||
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