(Photo by H. Main.)]
The caterpillar is pale green with a rather darker line along the back, and
yellowish lines along the sides. It feeds on hawthorn, sloe, privet, lilac,
currant, plum, cherry, rose, etc., also on oak, hornbeam, and some other
trees: April to June. The figure of the caterpillar on Plate 125, Fig. 4,
is from a coloured drawing by Mr. A. Sich.
The moth is out in the spring, and may be found on palings, tree-trunks,
etc., in the daytime, and more freely flying about, or sitting on hedges,
at night, when the spider-like wingless female is more frequently obtained.
The male is attracted by light, and sometimes is not uncommon on gas lamps.
Except that it seems not to have been noted north of Perthshire in
Scotland, the species is generally distributed over the British Isles.
PALE BRINDLED BEAUTY (_Phigalia pedaria_).
The fore wings of this species (Plate 122, Figs. 9 [female], 10, 11 [male])
are greyish, tinged with greenish or brown, and sprinkled with darker grey
or brownish; the irregular cross lines are blackish. Occasional specimens
in the north of England are more or less sprinkled with yellow buff or
orange buff, and in these the cross-markings may be present or absent. A
more frequent form of aberration in the north is a general darkening of the
colour in {296} the direction of ab. _monacharia_, Staud., which is smoky
black with the veins black, and occurs chiefly in South Yorkshire.
The caterpillar, figured on Plate 126, Fig. 1, from a coloured drawing by
Mr. A. Sich, is dull reddish brown, relieved with rust red mottling; the
notched head is greyish brown. It feeds, in the spring, on birch, oak, elm,
lime, poplar, sallow, hawthorn, sloe, plum and other fruit trees, rose,
etc.
The moth is out as a rule during the first two or three months of the year,
but it has been noted in November and December, and also in mid-June. It
may be seen in the daytime on tree-trunks, palings, etc., but the female
secretes herself in any convenient cranny, and is not easily detected. The
male flies at night, and comes freely to light.
The species is pretty generally distributed throughout England and Wales,
and Scotland up to Aberdeen. In Ireland, it has a wide distribution, but
Kane states that, except in the Belfast district, it is decidedly scarce in
the country.
SMALL BRINDLED BEAUTY (_Apocheima hispidaria_).
In the male (Plate 124, Figs. 1 and 2) the fore wings are ochreous grey
inclining to brownish, usually much paler on the outer margin; cross lines
black. Hind wings, greyish white, with a blackish central band. Fringes of
all the wings chequered with blackish. Often the central area of the fore
wings, between the first and second lines, is more or less blackish; less
frequently the whole of these wings, up to or just beyond the submarginal
line, is blackish; and sometimes the pale outer marginal area is broken up
by the blackish nervules. Very rarely, the ground colour is almost white,
and the cross-markings on the fore wings dusky grey. The female (Plate 124,
Fig. 3) varies from brown to blackish. {297}
[Illustration: FIG. 16.