The Tree-lichen Beauty (Bryophila algæ).
The only record of this species in England that I am aware of is that by Mr. Edleston, in the Intelligencer for 1860, p. 11, as follows: "Two specimens of this pretty species (B. algæ) were taken in this district last July." The district referred to was Manchester, and the note was written on September 28, 1859.
TRIFINÆ.
The Turnip Moth (Agrotis (Euxoa) segetum).
The ordinary form of the male and the female is represented on Plate [104]. The species is an exceedingly variable one, and Haworth (1803), believing them to be distinct species, gave Latin and English names to several of the different forms. The ground colour in the male ranges from pale whitish or brownish ochreous, with strong markings, to blackish brown, with the markings obscured. The female ranges in colour of
fore wings from greyish to blackish. Caterpillar, greyish brown, tinged with ochreous, or sometimes pinkish; a glossy plate on first ring, greyish or brownish; spots glossy, each with a tiny hair; lines rather darker, but often indistinct. It feeds from July to April on various plants, but only attacks the tender stems near the surface of the ground. In fields it is destructive to turnips and swedes, making large cavities in the bulb, which it enters from just above the tap-root. The moth flies in June, and occasionally as a second generation in the autumn. Generally distributed over the British Isles, and often very common. Its range extends throughout nearly the whole of Europe and the greater part of Asia.
The Archer's Dart (Agrotis (Euxoa) vestigialis).
The specimens shown on Plate [104] are typical of the sexes (Figs. 1♂, 3♀). The normal pale brown colour is sometimes replaced by greyish, reddish, or olive brown. A specimen with black fore and hind wings has been recorded from North Wales by Mr. Jäger. The markings vary in intensity, and occasionally are almost or quite absent. Several of the varieties have been named. The caterpillar, which feeds on bed-straw and various grasses, etc., is greenish grey, inclining to brownish above, with a dark-edged pale line along the middle of the back, and a similar line on each side; the raised spots are black, and the plate on first ring brownish; head ochreous, marked with darker. August to May. The moth is out in July and August, and is chiefly found on sandhills by the sea. It is most plentiful on the eastern and southern coasts, and in Cheshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire: it is often not uncommon in the Brandon and Tuddenham districts, and others, in the "Breck Sand" area of Suffolk and Norfolk. The species has been recorded from Worcestershire, and I understand that a few specimens were taken in Surrey last August (1907). In Scotland it occurs on the east coast, and in the Orkney Isles; also in Ayr, on the south-west. In Ireland, also, it is found on suitable parts of the coast.
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