represents a variegated modification of the last form, for which the name bandanæ was proposed by Gregson; Fig. 11 depicts another specimen, which in its light-brown colour closely approaches the Orkney form var. ochracæ, Gregson = orcadensis, Prout.
Specimens from North Devon have a rather darker tone of the typical coloration, and those from North Wales and from Ireland incline to brownish.
The rather stumpy caterpillar is greyish brown above, and pale greenish or yellowish below; three darker brown lines along the back; head, blackish. It is found from late June to early August, in the seed capsules of catchfly (Silene inflate, S. maritima, etc.). Plate [92], Fig. 4, from a coloured drawing by Mr. A. Sich.
The moth is out in May and June, and is widely distributed over the British Isles.
Pimpinel Pug (Eupithecia pimpinellata).
A portrait of this species, which, as a British insect, was first noted in Suffolk nearly sixty years ago, will be found on Plate [95], Fig. 1. The fore wings are pale brownish, except on the front edge, which is greyish; the black discal spot is distinct and rather long; the median vein and its branches are dotted with black, and most of the cross lines are only distinct on the front margin, where they are blackish; the rather wavy whitish submarginal line is sometimes marked with blackish. In some specimens the costal half of the fore wings is greyish, and the other portion only tinged with pale brownish.
The long caterpillar is green, with three purplish lines along the back, the central one wider and more distinct than the others; the head is purple. Sometimes purple, with two lines of a deeper shade on each side of the back (Crewe). It feeds, in the autumn, on flowers of burnet-saxifrage (Pimpinella).
The moth is out in June and July, and in the late afternoon is occasionally put up from among its food plant or the herbage around, but such specimens are rarely worth keeping, unless of the female sex, when eggs may be obtained.
The species has a wide distribution in England, especially in the southern half; it occurs in Wales, and also in Ireland, but not in Scotland.