Volume 14, Plate XXIV / Entomology (Insects)

Herald-Moth, Mottled Orange-Moth & Angle Shades

Scoliopteryx Libatrix, Gortyma flavago & Phlogophora Meticulosa

1. The Herald-Moth. Expanding an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half, the thorax and forewings reddish-grey with an irregular red basal patch sprinkled with yellow dots, a round white disk spot, and two oblique white bands, the under wings brownish darkening behind. The slender naked green caterpillar, with a white side line and red stigmata, feeds on willows and poplars, this moth abundant in southern England but rarer northward, appearing in July and October.
2. Mottled Orange-Moth. By far the most handsome of two British species, expanding an inch and a quarter to nearly an inch and a half, the upper wings rich yellow variegated with reddish-brown and bearing two broad transverse brown bands, the hinder wings dirty white and glossy with a dusky crescent. The caterpillar feeds within the pith of burdock and other thick-stemmed plants and pupates inside, this insect not rare in many parts of England but very scarce northward.
3. The Angle Shades. The only British species of its genus, the upper wings usually nearly two inches across, pale rosy-white clouded with olive-brown and bearing a large triangular purplish central mark beyond which lies a white band, the hinder wings whitish with a dusky central crescent. The green caterpillar, with a row of oblong white dorsal spots and a continuous white side line, feeds on culinary vegetables and field plants, this moth common in most parts of the country though scarcer in Scotland.