This species (Plate [99], Fig. 5) differs from the last in being smaller, paler in colour, more distinctly marked, and with a rather larger and more conspicuous discal spot.
The caterpillar feeds, in June and July, on young leaves of oak, the flowers of the evergreen oak (Quercus ilex), and hawthorn. It is orange, or ochreous red, with blackish marks connected by a line of the same colour along the back, and yellowish stripes and lines on the sides.
The moth is out in May and early June, and occurs in some of the woods in most of the southern counties of England, and on the west to Worcestershire. It has been recorded from Yorks. and Cumberland; from Glamorganshire, South Wales; and from counties Armagh, Dublin, Wicklow, and Sligo, in Ireland.
Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata).
In some respects this species (Plate [99], Fig. 4) is not unlike E. abbreviata, but the general colour of the fore wings is pale grey inclining to brownish; a good character is the blackish
band before the submarginal line, which is interrupted by patches of the ground colour, one above, and the other below, the middle; the submarginal line is whitish towards the inner margin.
Caterpillar, long and thin; dark green; a series of yellow dotted reddish marks on the back, and a yellow-edged reddish line low down along the sides. It feeds, in the autumn, on hawthorn, sloe, currant, sallow, ash, etc.
The moth is out in May and June, and is sometimes seen at rest on the stems and branches of trees, fences, etc., and may be beaten out of hedgerows.
Widely distributed throughout England, Wales, Scotland to Perthshire, and Ireland.