A YEAR’S COLLECTING OF MACRO-LEPIDOPTERA. (1920)

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stevehind
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Location: Higher Poynton, Cheshire

A YEAR’S COLLECTING OF MACRO-LEPIDOPTERA. (1920)

Post by stevehind »

I am still working my way through the old entomological journals and have found another article which may be of interest. It's taken a while to translate all the old scientific names into vernacular names. H. triplasia could be Spectacle or Dark Spectacle but I'm not sure what L. corydon is. Hopefully the rest are OK.

A YEAR’S COLLECTING OF MACRO-LEPIDOPTERA.
BY S. Gordon Smith, F.E.S.

Paper read before the Lancashire & Cheshire Entomological Society meeting 15th November,1920 and published in the LCES 42-44th Annual Report & Proceedings. Sessions 1918-1920:54-59.

Although the year 1920 has been a very poor one for Entomologists generally, my experience during the months of January, February, March, September and October were exceptionally good, in the Delamere district, for many species.

On January 24th Spring Usher and Pale Brindled Beauty were common at Delamere, about 29% of the latter were of the melanic form. A few Mottled Umber, Dotted Border and Small Brindled Beauty were also observed. Mr. Arnold Hughes, Mr. Alfred Newstead and myself obtained the best results by searching the tree trunks between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.

On February 14th, in company with Mr. J. W. Griffin and his son we found at Delamere several female Small Brindled Beauty on the tree trunks; five of these were placed in a small wire gauze cage which was hung on an oak tree about 5 ft from the ground. At 7 p.m. the males began to assemble, and by 7:30 p.m. 45 specimens had been boxed, it then began to rain and assembling ceased.

Mr. W. A. Tyerman accompanied me to Delamere on the evening of Feb.19th; although raining very heavily we took 7 males and 3 females of Small Brindled Beauty from the tree trunks.

Prof. R. Newstead, Mr. C. P. Rimmer and myself witnessed a remarkable assemblage of Small Brindled Beauty on the evening of Feb. 28th, which was mild, and there was no rain. Two cages with five females in each, were placed about three hundred yards apart. Both cages began to attract at 7:45 p.m. which is interesting. In seven minutes, 44 males were counted; before 8:30 more than 400 males had been attracted. Between the times stated, for a short period, they occurred in such numbers at one of the cages that they presented the appearance of a small swarm of bees. During these assemblages, acetylene light was frequently shone on the cages, but had little effect in disturbing the moths, but when used on Pale Brindled Beauty under the same conditions, the light caused the females to stop attracting and the males to fly away immediately.

In March at Delamere the usual Orthosia, including Twin-spotted Quaker, were common at sugar and sallows. Yellow Horned was scarce, only six were seen, two of these were very fine varieties, Pine Beauty was occasionally met with, the first was bred out-of-doors and appeared on the 17th February.

April in Cheshire was poor, but a trip to Aberhosan at Easter with Mr. C. P. Rimmer, yielded Tissue which were in very good condition. These were obtained entirely by beating the overhanging banks along the paths in the woods. One specimen of Square Spot was found on a tree trunk. About 380 various larvae were taken on this expedition, including Scarlet Tiger.

At Whitsuntide in the same locality Small Phoenix, Barred Umber, Water Carpet and the light form of Engrailed occurred.

During May and June Burntwood was visited several times in company with Messrs. W. Mansbridge, C. P Rimmer, W. A. Tyerman and A. E. Wright. White-barred Clearwing, Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth, Waved Carpet, were the best insects taken. Sugaring was a failure, but by assembling with a Peppered Moth female 14 males were taken, one of which was the type form, all the remainder were melanic. On several occasions I noticed that the latter species assembled as freely to females a week old as to freshly emerged ones.. On the 17th July, accompanied by Mr. C. P. Rimmer the New Forest was visited, making Lyndhurst headquarters. With the exception of Silver-studded Blue, butterflies were scarce. Silver-washed Fritillary, High Brown Fritillary White Admiral were obtained. Five-spot Burnet and Horse Chestnut were common. A few Dotted Carpet, Great Oak Beauty and Black Arches came to light. Sugaring was a failure. A visit to Princes Risborough on the 21st gave us fine series of Marbled White, which strangely enough, were found flying in the rain. The next day near Salisbury, L. corydon was taken in numbers. On the way home we stayed for a few hours at Symonds Yat where Comma, Silver-washed Fritillary, High Brown Fritillary and White-letter Hairstreak were found. Larvae of Peacock and Red Admiral also occurred in abundance.

Aberhosan was again visited on August Bank holiday (weekend) in company with Messrs. Alfred Newstead and C. P. Rimmer. On this occasion Cloaked Pug was captured. Annulet and Striped Twin-spot Carpet were common.

Working heather bloom at night, during August and September produced good series of Neglected Rustic and Autumnal Rustic at Delamere. On Moel Fammau Golden-rod Brindle and Small Autumnal Moth were taken by the Rev. F. M. B. Carr, Mr. W. A. Tyerman and myself.

Sugaring was unproductive at Delamere during September. On October 3rd quite a number of the usual autumn moths occurred. October 4th was the most successful night, the specimens taken in an hour and a half included the following:— 26 Merveille du Jour, 16 Yellow-line Quaker, 6 Dark Sword-grass, 1 Herald, 1 Broom Moth, 3 Pearly Underwing, in addition large numbers of the following also came to sugar and rotten fruit: Chestnut, Turnip Moth, Brindled Green, November Moth, Brick, Red-line Quaker, Flounced Chestnut, Beaded Chestnut, Brown-spot Pinion Satellite. As an experiment alternate trees were treated with sugar mixture and rotten pulped fruit. The majority of species, however, showed no preference for one mixture more than the other, but Flounced Chestnut decidedly preferred the rotten fruit.

Towards the end of October Mottled Umber was abundant at Delamere and assembled freely to females. The males were attracted in large numbers between 6:10 and 8:45 p.m.

On Nov. 12th I took a Sprawler from a gas lamp on the Wrexham Road, Chester.

BREEDING.
Failures: — About 100 Peppered Moth larvae (from a typical male and a black female) all died, due to wet weather. These were sleeved on birch. About 200 Poplar Hawk-moth larvae sleeved on poplar died of starvation; the same result occurred to 200 Scalloped Hazel larvae sleeved on pear. About 60 December Moth larvae all died when nearly full grown. Both small and large cages were used, some exposed to all weathers, and others protected. About 200 Belted Beauty larvae, fed on willow, all died when full-grown, with the exception of 4 pupae. 42 fine healthy full-grown Puss Moth were killed by frost in September. About 60 Red Chestnut larvae; also reared from ova died when full grown, these were fed on dock. The cold damp weather seemed responsible for these failures. Last year Grass Eggar larvae were quite easy to rear in large cages exposed to all weathers. This year all died, apparently due to excessive wet.

Successes:—From 14 ova of Poplar Kitten 13 pupae resulted. These larvae were sleeved on poplar immediately on hatching. Young Blossom Underwing larvae found on the end of an oak branch near Dolgelly were fed on plum in covered cages, only one larva died. Twin-spotted Quaker larvae reared from ova fed on plum in a covered cage all with one exception pupated. Mottled Beauty larvae from various districts produced moths. About 60 Silvery Arches larvae collected from Burntwood were also successfully reared. 980 Small tortoiseshell were reared from Prestatyn larvae. 500 Peacock the same, and 500 Red Admiral emerged from pupae from the Folkestone district. A large number of Peacock and Red Admiral were bred from Symonds Yat and Aberhosan larvae. Altogether about 2400 butterflies were obtained and produced only a few varieties. A few Small Tortoiseshell were banded, the blue spots in some were almost absent, in others the colours were very bright, especially the Folkestone specimens. One var. bred from the latter district is without the basal costal black mark. Some Red Admiral had pale pink blotches on the red bands, and two had pale undersides. Peacock varied the least, a few had a black line over the eye spot on the hind wings.

From five hundred Silver-washed Fritillary larvae, four nice vars. were obtained, two with wedge-shaped marks, one female had no green on the underside, the ground colour being instead a pinkish brown.

One pair of Poplar Hawk-moth copulated during seven days no less than five times. The ova deposited between each copulation were as follows:—9, 39, 73, 114.

A male Brindled Beauty and a female Belted Beauty were put in cage with the ends covered with netting. In another similar cage which stood about an inch from the first a male Belted Beauty and a female Brindled Beauty were placed. Seeing their own species so near, one supposes they paired unknowingly with the wrong species. The female Brindled Beauty and male Belted Beauty would not pair, they seemed unable to do so. One of the male Brindled Beauty was in cop. with the female Belted Beauty for more than 48 hours. Another pair were together not more than 12 hours. The two female Belted Beauty only laid about 60 ova, these are very few. Belted Beauty generally deposits a large number. The larvae resembled very large Belted Beauty when full grown, being not much smaller than full grown Peppered larva. In rearing these as far as the pupal stage I was very successful—only one larva died, it will be interesting to see how many moths will emerge. The larvae were fed on willow and birch, but they preferred the former. Oak Beauty and Belted Beauty, Small Brindled Beauty and Brindled Beauty, Small Brindled Beauty and Belted Beauty would not pair, the time for pairing appeared to have something to do with this. I noticed that Small Brindled Beauty was not ready to pair at the same time as Belted Beauty.

In the autumn of last year Prof. R. Newstead and myself found an almost wingless Feathered Thorn in cop. with a perfect male of the same species—the ova deposited were kept. It is curious to note that 2 out of the 4 specimens bred inherited to some extent the characteristics of the female parent. The two other male specimens were perfect.

LIGHT
Very little came to my 2000 c.p. electric lamp at Estyn, Chester, between January and June, although it was tried on many occasions.
June 12th. — 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. thunder, lightning and rain, 24 species.
June 13th.—Cloudy and warm, no rain, 37 species. See list appended.
June 16th.—11 p.m. to 3 a.m. thunder and rain, 44 species. See list appended.
July 1st. —10:50 p.m. to 2:45 a.m. warm and breezy, 46 species, including one Golden Plusia.
July 3rd and 4th.—Poor, although warm and damp.
July 6th.—11 p.m. to 1:15 a.m. clear and breezy, temp. 53 degrees Fahrenheit. 23 species.
August 2nd.—Cloudy, temp. 56 to 57 degrees Fahrenheit. 20 species.
August 8th.—10:5 p.m. to 11:40 p.m., temp. 58 degrees F., 16 species.
August 12th.—Cloudy and damp, temp. 58 degrees Fahrenheit. Best night in August, 34 species. See list appended.
The remainder of August produced very little, the temperature at times was only 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
September was also bad, the best night was the 3rd, temp. 54 degrees Fahrenheit., very cloudy,19 species.
Heart and Dart, Dark Arches and Silver Y came in large numbers.
Many species came about the same time each night. Poplar Hawk-moth, White Ermine and Garden Tiger appeared before 1 a.m.

SURVEY.
About 2278 specimens have been set, representing not less than 345 species. About 7459 larvae and pupae reared in cages— these represented 103 species. Mortality 30%. Except 2000, all have been collected or reared from captured females by myself, which included 9 species.

Special Captures.—3 Cloaked Pug, Aberhosan; Square Spot, Aberhosan; many Scarlet Tiger, Aberhosan; 1 Muslin Moth taken at Delamere by Mr. J. W. Griffin.

The following taken at Estyn, Chester, electric lamp:— Several Shuttle-shaped Dart, 1 Purple Thorn, 2 Alder Moth (one black form), several Waved Umber,1 Blotched Emerald, few Bordered White, several Oblique Carpet, few Light Brocade, 2 Rannoch Looper, a new record for Cheshire.

APPENDED LIST OF CAPTURES AT LIGHT.
June 13th. 2 Alder Moth, Swallow Prominent, Light Brocade, Poplar Kitten, Sallow Kitten, Clouded-bordered Brindle, Small Clouded Brindle, Peppered Moth, Beautiful Golden Y, Gold Spot, Silver Y, Plain Golden Y, Flame, Bordered White, Ghost Moth (female), Double Dart, Lychnis, Marbled Minor, Middle-barred Minor, Knot Grass, Puss Moth, White Ermine, Flame Shoulder, Dot Moth, Common Pug, Heart and Dart, Small Angle Shades, Garden Carpet, Silver-ground Carpet, Bright-line Brown-eye, Small Fan-foot, Chinese Character, Rustic Shoulder-knot, Grey Dagger, Dark Arches, Peach Blossom, Magpie Moth.

June 16th.— Poplar Hawk-moth, Buff-tip, Poplar Kitten, White Ermine, Silver Y, Beautiful Golden Y, Dark Spectacle, Small Square-spot, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Shoulder-striped Wainscot, Treble Lines, Rustic Shoulder-knot, Flame, Clouded-bordered Brindle, Bright-line Brown-eye, Broom Moth, Shears, Grey Dagger, Knot Grass, Herald, Marbled Minor, Middle-barred Minor, Small Clouded Brindle, Heart and Dart, Ingrailed Clay, Small Angle Shades, Mottled Rustic, Chinese Character, Peppered Moth, Dusky Brocade, Brimstone Moth, Common White Wave, Silver-ground Carpet, Garden Carpet, Foxglove Pug, Green Pug (melanic), Common Pug, another Eupithecia (sp. ?), Flame Carpet, Little Emerald, Small Dusty Wave, Magpie Moth, Sandy Carpet, Snout.

August 12th.—Silver Y, Common Rustic, Dark Arches, Large Yellow Underwing, Rosy Minor, Riband Wave, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Willow Beauty, Yellow-tail, Square-spot Rustic, Clay, July Highflyer, Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet, Common Wainscot, V-Moth, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Burnished Brass, Scalloped Oak, Early Thorn, var. juliaria, Marbled Minor, Dun-bar, Brimstone Moth, Small Clouded Brindle, Garden Tiger, Red Twin-spot Carpet, Dark Spinach, Swallow-tailed Moth, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Bright-line Brown-eye, Marbled Beauty, Dark Marbled Carpet, Cabbage Moth, Garden Carpet, Shuttle-shaped Dart.
CliveJ
Posts: 210
Joined: Mon May 16, 2016 4:02 pm

Re: A YEAR’S COLLECTING OF MACRO-LEPIDOPTERA. (1920)

Post by CliveJ »

These accounts from the past make fascinating reading. L. corydon = Chalk Hill Blue I think as they were described as near Salisbury.
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