Barberry Carpet (Anticlea berberata).
The fore wings are greyish or whitish, tinged with grey; there are two dark-edged black lines on the basal half, and a black line beyond the middle of the wings; the latter has a conspicuous tooth in its upper half, but the lower wavy half is indistinct; there is a black streak in the tip of the wing. (Plate [88], Figs. 5, 6.)
The stout and roughened caterpillar is brown, with indistinct darker stripes along the back; the head is brown, checkered with darker brown. It feeds, in June and July, on barberry (Berberis vulgaris); there is a second brood in late August and September.
The moth is out in May and early June, and again in August. Although it certainly has been noted from other parts of England, the species seems at present to be confined to the eastern counties. Barrett gives Somerset also.
The Flame (Anticlea rubidata).
The markings on the reddish fore wings of this species (Plate [88], Figs. 9 and 10) are somewhat similar to those of the last mentioned, but there is no black streak in the tips of the wings, and the upper part of the outer black line is not toothed. The lower central area is often greyish, and the reddish ground colour is sometimes obscured.
The caterpillar is pale brown, sometimes greyish or greenish tinged, with obscure darker diamond-shaped marks on the back; a black central line, indistinct on the middle rings; under side striped and lined with pale and dark brown; head, with a black V-shaped mark. It feeds, in July and early August, on bedstraw (Galium mollugo and G. verum), and will eat cleavers or goosegrass (G. aparine) in confinement.
| ||
| 2 Pl. 90. | ||
| ||
| ||
|
