Abbots' Lepidoptera (1797)
James Edward Smith. The natural history of the rarer lepidoterous insects of Georgia. Including their systematic characters, the particulars of their several metamorphoses, and the plants on which they feed. Collected from the observation of Mr. John Abbot, many years resident in that country. London: printed by T. Bensley, for J. Edwards, 1797. 2 vols.
Abbot's orange white-spot moth and
its host plant, black oak
John Abbot's work on Georgia insects, edited by J. E. Smith, is a contribution to botany as well as entomology. Included with his drawing of the orange white-spot moth is a branch of Quercus velutina, commonly known as black oak.
In his 1818 Philadelphia flora, William Barton recognizes two species of black oaks, one with "very slightly scalloped leaves," and one with "pinnatifid scalloped leaves." He refers to the latter as Quercus discolor and cites Abbot's drawing of it.
Botanists no longer use these distinctions as criteria for recognizing two species. They now consider Quercus velutina to be a species with variable leaves, which may be "very slightly scalloped" or "pinnatifid scalloped."
Barton states that the species with "slightly scalloped" leaves grows "In the hilly woods of our neighbourhood" and the species with "pinnatifid scalloped" leaves resembles it very much and is often found with it. Today black oaks occur throughout Fairmount Park, but probably are less abundant than in the past.