The Moths of the British Isles Second Series/Chapter 3
GONOPTERINÆ.
The Herald (Scoliopteryx libatrix).
Haworth (1802) gave this attractive species the English name of "Furbelow Moth," but Harris (1782) had named it Herald Moth (Plate 22, Fig. 1).
In the majority of specimens the purplish, or grey-brown fore wings, are more or less reddish tinged throughout, but occasionally the outer marginal area is free of this tint; the orange red marks on the central and basal areas are brighter in some specimens than in others.
The caterpillar, which feeds on sallow, osier, willow, and probably poplar (a chrysalis having been found in a curled leaf of black poplar), is a long, rather thin, greenish creature without any distinct markings, except that when full grown the front rings have two black spots. It may be found reposing on the upper leaves of its foodplant, from June to August. (Plate 25, Fig. 1, from a coloured drawing by Mr. A. Sich.)
The moth may be obtained at sugar, ivy-blossom, etc., from August to October, and it seems that the earliest to emerge are those that first take up hibernating quarters in barns, outhouses, roofs, belfries, and under arches. In the spring it reappears, and may be met with even in June. A specimen was taken at sugar on July 20, 1899, but whether this is to be regarded as a very late date or an unusually early one, I cannot say. Generally distributed throughout Great Britain and Ireland, but of the Scottish Isles only recorded from Shetland. Abroad it ranges through Europe to North-West Africa, and through Asia to Amurland and Japan; also in temperate North America.
Note.—Stephens (1829) referred this species to the genus Calyptra, Ochs., but in 1831 he adopted Scoliopteryx, Germar (1811). Gonoptera, Latr., which has been frequently used, only dates from 1825.