the outer marginal border of all the wings is not infrequently enlarged, in some cases so much so that the borders are separated into two parts, and also reduced in width.
The caterpillar is grey brown, ochreous brown between the rings and on the underside; a dark line along the back, and a dark-edged, pale line on each side; a black dot on each ring at the junction of the dark upper and pale lower areas; head, grey-brown, with blackish freckles. It feeds, in July and August, on bedstraw, preferring the heath kind (Galium saxatile), but will eat the large hedge kind (G. mollugo).
The moth is out in June, or from late May, and in some parts specimens are seen in August. Its haunts are moors and upland heaths, and its British distribution extends from Dartmoor and Exmoor, in Devon, through Western England and Wales to Westmorland. It appears to be very local in Somerset, Gloucester, Hereford, Shropshire, and Cheshire; from Staffordshire and Derbyshire northwards, and through Scotland, it becomes more plentiful; and has been recorded from the Shetlands. In Ireland it is local, but common where it occurs.
Sharp-angled Carpet (Xanthorhoë (Euphyia) unangulata).
This species (Plate [82], Figs. 1, 2) may be recognized by the distinctly angled outer edge of the blackish central band, which is thrown into strong relief by the usually broad white stripe following it. Wilkes, who figured the moth in 1742, called it the "White Stripe." By some authors the species is referred to amniculata, Hübner.
The caterpillar is pale whity brown, with a slightly darker but indistinct line along the centre of the back, and a black spot on the middle rings; a pale line on the sides is edged with dark grey; head, brown, marked with black. It feeds, in July and early August, on chickweed (Stellaria media).
The moth, which is partial to hedges and easily disturbed
therefrom, is out in June and July, and even later in some seasons. The earliest hatched caterpillars reared in confinement sometimes attain the moth state in August of the same year. Although certainly local, the species has a wide distribution in the southern half of England, and is not uncommon in some localities. Its range extends into Wales, and also northwards to Cumberland and Westmorland, but it is generally very much scarcer in the north than in the south. In Ireland it is known to occur locally in counties Antrim, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Waterford, Kerry, and Galway, but, as a rule, only sparingly.
Abroad, the distribution includes North Amurland and North America.