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[Illustration]

  Pl. 1.
     1. SPURGE HAWK: _caterpillar_.
  2, 3. SILVER-STRIPED HAWK: _caterpillar_.
     4. OLEANDER HAWK: _caterpillar_.

THE MOTHS

OF THE

BRITISH ISLES

BY

RICHARD SOUTH, F.E.S.

AUTHOR OF "THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES" EDITOR OF "THE
ENTOMOLOGIST," ETC.

FIRST SERIES

COMPRISING

_THE FAMILIES SPHINGIDAE TO NOCTUIDAE_

WITH ACCURATELY <DW52> FIGURES OF EVERY SPECIES AND MANY VARIETIES ALSO
DRAWINGS OF EGGS, CATERPILLARS, CHRYSALIDS AND FOOD-PLANTS

LONDON

FREDERICK WARNE & CO.

AND NEW YORK

1907

(_All rights reserved_)

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

       *       *       *       *       *

PREFACE.

Compared with our butterflies, the number of moths found in the British
Isles is very large. Like the butterflies, moths too are dependent upon
plant life, and almost every kind of herb, bush, or tree, will be found to
nourish the caterpillars of one or more species of moth.

Not only the field botanist, but every rambler in the country must
constantly come across moths or caterpillars that will probably interest
him, and of which he would be glad to learn something about their habits,
life-history, and the position they occupy in the arrangement and
classification of Natural History objects.

In the preparation of this little book on our moths, the author has
proceeded closely on the lines adopted when dealing with the butterflies in
his previous volume. That is, the chief aim has been to place before the
nature lovers as much information concerning these creatures as could be
condensed into moderate limits.

Lengthy descriptions were out of the question, but what might be considered
an omission in this way, is amply compensated for by the life-like
portraits of typical examples of the moths themselves, and in many cases of
their more important varieties. Technicalities have been avoided as far as
possible, the main object being to provide a guide to the identification of
our moths, together with a simple account of the whole or a part of their
earlier stages.

The author is fully aware that this method of treatment only enables him to
touch the fringe of the subject, as it were, but he has been content to
deal with it in this way, as it appeared to be the kind of information that
would most nearly meet the requirements of the majority.

The author desires here to express his thanks to Mr. Robert Adkin, F.E.S.,
for the loan of specimens of _L. coenosa_, _E. ilicifolia_, _D. harpagula_,
_N. albula_, _N. centonalis_, _D. barrettii_, _D. caesia_, _P.
xanthomista_, _T. extrema_, _L. favicolor_, _L. vitellina_, and _H.
palustris_. To Mr. Alfred Sich, F.E.S., for the use of drawings of the
caterpillars of _D. tiliae_, _S. fagi_, _L. bicoloria_, _P. ridens_, _A.
auricoma_, _A. rumicis_, _A. aceris_, _N. brunnea_, _M. oleracea_, _A.
tragopogonis_, _T. gothica_, and _T. incerta_. To Mr. H. L. Sich for the
loan of drawings of the caterpillars of _D. euphorbiae_, _D. galii_, _D.
chaonia_, and _P. dictoea_. For the material figured on Plate 148, except
the larva of _L. putrescens_, kindly sent by Mr. Walker, of Torquay, he is
indebted to Mr. H. M. Edelsten, F.E.S.

Except where otherwise mentioned, the illustrations of moths and
caterpillars at rest are from photographs by "A Forester."

To Mr. Horace Knight he is very greatly obliged for the care bestowed upon
the drawings of ova, larvae, and pupae, the bulk of which were made from
living examples; also the  drawings for Plates 1, 45, 63, 68, 73,
75, 80, 84, 90, 108, 119, 123, 140, 146, 149, and 153. The only figures
copied from any previous publication are those of the caterpillars of _S.
fuliginosa_, _