The moth flies chiefly in July and August, but it is sometimes seen as early as May and as late as October. Generally distributed, and often very common. Except that it does not occur in America the range abroad is almost as extensive as that of the next species.
Small Mottled Willow (Laphygma (Caradrina) exigua).
This species (Plate [151], Fig. 11) practically ranges over the globe. It is the "Beet Army-worm" of American economic entomologists; whilst in South Africa it is known in the early stage as "The Pigweed Caterpillar." In Asia, and especially in India, where it is destructive to the indigo plants, maize, etc., it is a familiar pest, but does not seem to bear a common name. As regards our own country, it was apparently unnoticed until somewhere about the middle of the last century, when a specimen was captured in the Isle of Wight. Its occurrence here is always considered a noteworthy event, but the records are very scanty except for the years 1896, 1897, 1900-03, and 1906. In the latter year there seems to have been an invasion on quite a large scale, and captures in some localities on the south and south-west coasts must have been in hundreds, whilst the species was also taken in fewer numbers in Essex, Surrey, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon, and South Wales. A specimen occurred at Crosby, Lancs., in 1884. In 1903 one example was taken at Chester, Cheshire. At Keighley, Yorks, eight were secured, which, added to three taken in other years, gives a total of eleven specimens for the county. In Ireland one example was
obtained at honeydew, September, 1899, at Timologue, Co. Cork.
The eggs (Plate [152], Fig. 7a) are laid in batches on a leaf, and more or less covered with whitish hairs. Some deposited on Sept. 8, 1906, hatched on the 20th of that month. When just hatched the caterpillar is greenish, paler on the last rings; head and plate on first ring shining black; when a week old a black plate appears on the last ring also. Later on the colour varies from green to olive green, brownish, and dark greyish. Green examples are figured on Plate [152], Fig. 7. The central line is ochreous, and there are series of black bars and blackish marks on the back; along the black-edged white spiracles is a pinkish brown band, edged above by an interrupted black line; the pinkish brown colour runs up the front part of each ring four to eleven; head blackish. The caterpillars were fed upon plantain, dandelion, and groundsel, but they would eat the foliage of any weed that was put in their cage. They formed fairly tough earthen cocoons on, or just below, the surface; but, although they pupated, the moths failed to emerge, probably because they were kept too dry. The ochreous or pinkish brown colour of the orbicular stigma, and sometimes of the reniform, distinguishes this moth; the hind wings are white with a very distinct pearly gloss.
The Small Dotted Buff (Petilampa arcuosa).
This pale whity-brown insect (Plate [134], Figs. 19 to 21) is often without markings, and where these are present on the fore wings they comprise two series of dusky dots representing two cross lines, and sometimes there is a dot at the end of the cell. These wings may be shaded with brown, and occasionally there is a dark band-like shade between the series of dots, in the male as well as in the smaller and narrower-winged female. Var. morrisii, Dale, seems to be a whiter form of this species.
The caterpillar, which may be found in May and June in the flower stems of Aira cæspitosa, is of a pale pinkish ochreous with three darker bars on each ring, and a brown, glossy head. The moth flies in July and part of August, and may be found, often in abundance, in most English and Welsh counties, in Scotland to Aberdeenshire; and widely spread in Ireland.
The Reddish Buff (Acosmetia caliginosa).
Both sexes of this reddish tinged grey-brown species are shown on Plate [153], Figs. 1 ♂, 3 ♀. As will be noted, the female is much smaller than the male. Except that it has been recorded from the Isle of Wight and from Bloxworth, Dorset, in the past, this species is restricted to certain portions of the New Forest, Hampshire. Even in these favoured haunts its numbers have become far less than formerly. The moth is out in July. Apparently it has no taste for sugar, neither does it seem to visit blossoms of any kind. It may be disturbed from its retreat among the grass by day, or netted as it flies at dusk. The caterpillar is stated by Hofmann to live on saw-wort (Serratula tinctoria); it is sap-green, yellow at the ring divisions, and marked with fine white lines.