Volume 14, Plate XX / Entomology (Insects)

Clouded Buff, Cream-Spot & Ruby Tiger-Moth

Euthemonia Russula, Arctia Villica & Phragmatobia fuliginosa

1. The Clouded Buff. Unusually the female is smaller than the male, which is about eighteen to twenty lines across with pale yellow forewings edged rose-red and a crescent-shaped brown disk spot, the female having the light portions reddish-yellow inclining to brown. The caterpillar, thickly covered with reddish or orange-yellow hair on a dusky body with a yellow dorsal line, feeds on hound’s tongue, scabious, and plantain, this insect found in some plenty in Coombe Wood and the New Forest.
2. Cream-Spot Tiger-Moth. Expanding two to two and a half inches, the forewings deep black with about eight cream-coloured spots, the basal one heart-shaped and the others paired, the under wings deep yellow with scattered black spots and a large black outer patch, the abdomen yellow and red with black spots. The black aigretted caterpillar, with a reddish-brown head, feeds on most common field plants, this species not very rare in some parts of England.
3. Ruby Tiger-Moth. A pretty little moth with thinly scaled, somewhat diaphanous wings, very variable, the upper wings usually reddish-brown with two black points and a bright red fringe, the hinder pair bright red becoming black behind, the abdomen carmine-red with rows of black spots. The thickly haired caterpillar, commonly brown or reddish, rejects scarcely any common plant, the moth of occasional occurrence in July and August in many parts including Caithness and Sutherland.