The caterpillar is yellowish green, with three reddish lines along the back, the central one most distinct and sometimes forming triangular marks, or lozenges. The ground colour varies, and may be greener, yellower, or occasionally greyish; and the markings are not always present.
There are two generations, the first in June and July, and the second in the autumn, and in confinement a third brood is sometimes obtained. The blossoms of various plants are eaten, but those of hemp-agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum), golden-rod (Solidago), clematis, and purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), are perhaps favourites. Hawthorn and bramble have also been mentioned as food plants.
The moth is out in most of the months from May to August, but seems to be most frequent in the first named.
Generally distributed in the southern half of England, extending into South Wales, rare in Yorkshire and in Roxburghshire, Scotland. Widely distributed in Ireland. The range abroad extends to Japan.
Green Pug (Chloroclystis rectangulata).
Of this variable species five examples are shown on Plate [100]. Figs. 2 and 3 represent the typical and more usual forms; 3 varies in the direction of ab. subaerata, Hübn., and Fig. 4 is the greyish ab. cydoniata, Bork. Ab. nigrosericeata, Haworth (Fig. 6), is blackish with white submarginal line; and an intermediate form (Fig. 5) may be referable to ab. sericeata, Haworth.
The stumpy caterpillar is of a pale yellow green colour, with
a more or less distinct reddish or dark-green line along the back, and reddish ring-divisions. It feeds in flowers of the wild apple or crab, and of apples and pears grown in orchards and gardens. It is found in April and May, and the moth is out in June and July.
The species is common throughout the greater part of England and Wales, and its range extends to Ross in Scotland. It has a wide distribution in Ireland.