This is another exceedingly local species in England. It was first taken at Bembridge in the Isle of Wight in 1858, and one or two specimens have since been obtained in that island. Examples have also occurred on the cliffs near Hastings, and at Folkestone; and one has been recorded as taken in a light trap at Woodbridge in Suffolk, July 21, 1904. The headquarters for the species in this country are the Deal sand-hills, on the Kentish coast, where it was discovered over a quarter of a century ago, and probably occurs still.
CHLÖEPHORIDÆ.
Authors are not at all agreed as to the systematic position of this family, and there seems to be some difference of opinion as to the species that properly belong to it. Sir George Hampson
has transferred the group to the Noctuidæ and separated S. revayana from the others, placing it in his sub-family Sarrothripinæ, to which also belong certain Indian species.
Only four species occur in our islands. Three of these have green fore wings and pale grey or whitish hind wings. The other species, Sarrothripa revayana, has the fore wings of various shades of grey, brown, or blackish; its boat-shaped cocoon is very like a small edition of that of Hylophila bicolorana, and, although the caterpillar is in some respects not very dissimilar to those of the green-winged species, the moth does not seem quite to be one of their set.
The Cream-bordered Green Pea (Earias chlorana).
In size, colour of the fore wings, and general appearance this moth might be mistaken for the much more common Green Tortrix (Tortrix viridana). On examination however, it will be seen to have white hind wings, whilst those of the Tortrix are grey. Again, the head, front of thorax, and front edge of the fore wings are white in the present species (Plate [73]).
The caterpillar is green, inclining to whitish on the back, the latter lined with brownish, and bearing warts on rings six and eleven. It feeds in July and August on the terminal leaves of osier and willow; these leaves are drawn together with silk, and the solid appearance of the foliage at the end of the twig will afford a clue to the probable whereabouts of the caterpillar when one is searching for it. Chrysalis, brown, darker on the back, paler on the under parts, and on the wing covers; enclosed in a tough boat-shaped cocoon which is often constructed on the bark of a twig or stem of the food plant. As a rule the moth does not emerge until the following year, but in some years a few will appear in the autumn, and others remain in the chrysalis until the following May or June.
This species inhabits damp places where there are osiers,
and it is especially common in the fens. It occurs in most of the southern and eastern counties of England, but does not seem to be recorded from other parts of the British Isles.