Yellow-barred Brindle (Lobophora (Trichopteryx) viretata).
The general colour of the fore wings is olive green, varying from pale to dark, the wavy cross lines are blackish, dotted
with black, and sometimes there are whitish lines between them; those on the central area are often united by a blackish cloud, and so form a band, and not infrequently the basal area is also blackish marked. (Plate [58], Figs. 3 and 4.) The ground colour is very apt to fade if the insect is exposed to moisture of any kind, as, for instance, when pinned in a damp collecting box, but I have one bred specimen of a reddish ochreous colour, and I am assured that it was of this tint when it emerged from the chrysalis. An old English name was "The Brindle-barred Yellow."
The thick-set caterpillar is green, more or less tinged with pinkish; three interrupted pink lines on the back, the central one sometimes inclining to purple, and broken up into spots; the head is brown, sometimes marked with purplish, and there are two tiny points on the last ring of the body. It varies in the green tint and also in marking. It feeds on flowers and leaves of holly, ivy, dogwood, privet, etc., in June and July, and in some sheltered southern localities again in September and October.
The moth is out in May and early June, and where a second generation is developed, in August and early September. It sits in the daytime on tree-trunks, but more especially those with smooth bark; the stems of holly are a favourite resting place, but at Box Hill I have occasionally seen a specimen on the trunk of a beech tree. Barrett states that it also rests on the trunks of fir trees, and that it is then very easily seen. Night is its time of activity, and it is then attracted by light.
The species seems to be widely distributed, but locally and not generally common, throughout England, Wales, and Ireland; it has only been recorded from Rosemount, Ayr, and one or two other localities in the south of Scotland.
The range abroad extends to Western India, Amurland, and Japan.
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