A pair of typical specimens are represented on Plate [11], Figs. 11 and 12. A form of the species occurring in Somersetshire has the fore wings reddish brown, and the usual black dots are largely absent (ab. unicolor, Tutt).
The caterpillar (Plate [6], Fig. 2) is purplish brown freckled with blackish; there are three obscure paler lines along the back from ring 3, and a central series of black spots; the head is black, and the fine hairs of the body are yellowish brown. It feeds, in May and June, on apple, plum, dandelion, etc. The fact has been noted that, if supplied with apple until about half grown, and afterwards with dandelion, it attains full size more quickly than when kept to one kind of food only.
The moth appears in October and November, retires during the cold weather, and comes forth again in the spring. When
reared in confinement, it emerges from the chrysalis about a month earlier. Ivy bloom, ripe yew berries, and also sugar attract it in the autumn, and in the spring it visits the blossoms of sallow, damson, and sloe. There are several records of its having been taken at light, perhaps the latest of these being that of a specimen captured at Exeter on April 11, 1906.
Except in Devonshire, where it is of more regular occurrence, the species is far from common in England, but is taken in, or has been recorded from, the counties of Dorset, Wilts, Gloucester, Hereford, Monmouth (S. Wales), Hants and Isle of Wight, Sussex, Surrey, Berks, Bucks, and Cambridge. In Ireland it is noted from Dublin, King's County, Kerry, Wicklow, and Galway.
It is represented in Japan by the larger ab. fornax, Butler.
The Satellite (Eupsilia (Scopelosoma) satellitia).
An example of each sex of this species is shown on Plate [12], together with a less common form. Although specimens vary in the amount of red in the colour of the fore wings, there is more striking aberration in the colour of the lunular marks representing the reniform stigma; these are frequently white, but may be yellow (typical), or reddish orange in either sex. The dull brownish specimen (Fig. 3) is from Yorkshire, and appears to be referable to var. brunnea, Lampa.
The caterpillar is dark brown, with indistinct paler lines on the back; the line along the spiracles is white or whitish, but often reduced to a series of spots on rings 1, 2, 5, and 11. Head, ochreous-brown, darker about the mouth. It feeds, in May and June, on the leaves of oak, beech, elm, and other trees, also on low plants; and has a keen appetite, it is said, for other caterpillars when the opportunity offers.
The moth is out in September, and may be seen at ivy bloom or sugar during that month, and also in October and November