Caterpillar, brown, with a greenish or ochreous tinge; along the back of rings 3 to 6 is an ochreous patch, and within this a black mark, and on the rings following 6 there are more or less distinct ochreous diamonds; a dull yellowish line low down along the sides; head, dull reddish brown. It feeds, in May and June, on willow, sallow, alder, etc. The moth is out in July and August, and is not uncommon in many parts of Southern and Eastern England. Its range extends through England, Wales, and Scotland to Sutherland. In Ireland, it is widely distributed, and not at all scarce in some northern localities.
Dark Bordered Beauty (Epione parallelaria).
As will be seen on referring to Plate [119] the sexes of this species are strikingly different. The male (Fig. 2) is very similar to the last species, except that the first cross line is curved and reddish brown in colour; the second line runs to the front margin before the tip, and the outer margin beyond is almost entirely purple. The female (Fig. 3) has the ground colour pale yellowish, and the outer borders narrowed, especially on the fore wings. Very occasionally, the ground colour in the male approaches that of the female. The eggs (Plate [121], Fig. 1) are pale yellow when deposited, but afterwards become honey yellow, freckled with reddish, and later they are red all over. The caterpillar is dingy brown, inclining to greyish on the back of the first four rings, a dark mark about the middle of the back, and on each side of this two slender whitish lines are fairly distinct; underside, whitish tinged with pale violet. It feeds, in May and June, sometimes later, on dwarf sallow and willow, birch, aspen, etc.
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| 2 Pl. 118. |
| 1. | Swallow-tailed: caterpillar. |
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| 2. | Orange Moth: caterpillar. |
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| 2 Pl. 119. |
| 1. | Bordered Beauty. | 2, 3. | Dark Bordered Beauty. |
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| 4. | Little Thorn. | 5, 6. | Speckled Yellow. |
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| 7. | Peacock. | 8. | Sharp-angled Peacock. |
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| 9, 10. Tawny-barred Angle. |
The moth is out in July and August, sometimes later. Although odd specimens have been recorded from Norfolk, St. Ives (Hunts), Newbury (Berks), and Arundel (Sussex), the species is a northern one, occurring chiefly near York (Sanburn Moss).
In 1863, two specimens were secured at Learmouth Bog, near Cornhill-on-Tweed, and in 1890, Bolam found it at Newham Bog, on the Northumberland border. Renton states that it is fairly common in good seasons at Adderstone-lea Moss, Roxburghshire; and Salvage found it widely distributed in Sutherlandshire.