The moth, as a rule, does not emerge until the following spring, but sometimes specimens will come out the same year.
Although widely distributed over nearly the whole of the British Isles, the species seems to be rarely met with in large numbers. The range abroad extends to Amurland, Corea, and Japan.
Barred Red (Ellopia (Hylaea) prosapiaria).
The typical form of this species is depicted on Plate [108], Figs. 4 ♂, 5 ♀, and Fig. 3 on the same plate represents ab. prasinaria, Hübner, a form not uncommon in Germany (whence came the example figured), Switzerland, and other parts of the continent, but which is very rare in Britain, and has been recorded from Kent and Suffolk. Sometimes, but chiefly in Scotland, the colour varies to a greyish or even yellowish tint; the cross lines are often parallel or nearly so, and frequently approach each other about the middle; the usual white edging to the cross lines is occasionally absent, and the enclosed space in such specimens is hardly darker than the general colour.
On Plate [106], Fig. 1, will be found a figure of the caterpillar, which is tawny brown with white-edged, connected reddish marks along the back. It feeds, from September to May, on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), and occasionally on larch. The moth is out in June and July, and sometimes in September. It may be jarred from the pine boughs, and is not infrequently seen resting on foliage of the undergrowth. Generally distributed in fir-woods throughout Great Britain, and widely spread in Ireland.
The range abroad extends to East Siberia.
The Light Emerald (Metrocampa (Eudalimia) margaritaria).
When quite fresh, this species (Plate [108], Fig. 6) is of a delicate whitish-green colour, but the green tint is apt to fade or to change colour, so that the wings are almost ochreous white sometimes.
The eggs shown on Plate [106], Fig. 3, were kindly supplied by Mr. Norman Riley.