The sexes of this species are shown on Plate [134], where Fig. 3 represents the male, and Fig. 5 the female. It was not known to occur in the British Isles until 1871, when a male specimen was captured in Perthshire, on April 20 of that year. Mr. William M. Christy, in 1895, bred some moths from larvæ obtained in the Highlands of Scotland, and he sent eggs to Mr. F. W. Frohawk, who worked out the life history, and described and figured all the stages from egg to perfect insect (Entom. xxviii. 237). In July, 1900 and 1901, Mr. E. A. Cockayne found
caterpillars, in Perthshire (Rannoch district), on ling, heath, and bog-myrtle; and in June, 1904, he published (Entom. xxxvii. 149) some interesting observations on the habits of the species in its native haunts. The greenish yellow eggs are laid in batches of 10 to 150 in the dry corollas of the cross-leaved heath, and less frequently between the stem and sheath of reeds, or in cracks in dead bracken stems, etc. The caterpillar (Plate [126], Fig. 3) is pale drab, inclining to a yellowish tint; irregular yellow stripes along the back and sides, and lines of blackish streaks between the stripes. It will eat birch, sallow, and hawthorn, in captivity; but in the open it feeds on heather and bog-myrtle: May-July. The chrysalis is reddish brown, rather paler on the wing covers (figured on Plate [126] from a photo, twice natural size, by Mr. H. Main). The moth is out in April and May, and sits on the twigs of heather and the stems of bog-myrtle. It has only been recorded from Perthshire, and is there very local, frequenting damp places near streams.
Mr. A. W. Mera has obtained hybrids from a crossing of this species with N. zonaria.
Belted Beauty (Nyssia zonaria).
Two males and a female of this species are depicted on Plate [124] (Figs. 4, 5 ♂, 6 ♀). There is variation in the ground colour of the male, from white to greyish, and the markings are sometimes greyish brown and sometimes blackish. Kane states that, in Ireland, a large number of Connemara specimens have the fore wings entirely white, broken by dark veins, front margin, and three streaks parallel to the outer margin. The caterpillar is greenish, with dusky grey lines and freckles on the back, and a yellow stripe low down along the sides; the latter is edged below with blackish; the underside is black and striped with grey; head, greyish, freckled with darker. It feeds on sallow, dandelion, dock, plantain, clover, yarrow, grass, etc.: May to August. (Plate [126], Fig. 4; chrysalis, Fig. 4a; eggs, Plate [133], Fig. 4.) The moth is out in March and April, and rests by day on or among herbage. The male has been known to fly in the sunshine, but its more usual time of flight is the early evening.
|
| 2 Pl. 126. |
| 1. | Pale Brindled Beauty: caterpillar. |
|
| 2. | Small Brindled Beauty: caterpillar. |
|
| 3, 3a, 3b. | Rannoch Brindled Beauty: egg, natural size enlarged. caterpillar and chrysalis. |
|
| 4, 4a. | Belted Beauty: caterpillar and chrysalis. |
|
|
|
| 2 Pl. 127. |
| 1-3. Oak Beauty. |