The eastern distribution extends to E. Siberia.
The Spotted Sulphur (Emmelia trabealis).
Although this pretty black and yellow moth (Plate [21], Fig. 12) was noted by Stephens (1830) as being occasionally captured in Battersea fields, and as occurring near Margate, and elsewhere in Kent, it was not until 1847 that the Breck-sand district of Norfolk, adjoining parts of Suffolk, and Cambridge, became known as being inhabited by The Spotted Sulphur. The vicinity of Brandon and Tuddenham is especially favoured by the species, but it occurs in several other parts of the area. Occasionally, specimens have been captured in various Kentish localities, and between thirty and forty years ago single examples were taken in Hackney Marshes, Lower Clapton (August 2), also in Wandsworth (at light, July 26). From these facts it would appear possible that the species occasionally strays from its haunts in the eastern counties and sometimes to a considerable distance. Once, indeed, a specimen was found on a gas lamp at Exeter. On the other hand, it is quite conceivable that such wanderers may have come from abroad.
Some specimens are of a paler yellow than others, but there is rather more noticeable aberration in the number and intensity of the black markings.
The caterpillar is reddish brown, with three darker lines along the back, the central one pale edged; a pale yellow stripe runs along the region of the spiracles, and has a fine brownish line running through it from end to end. Another form is green with white lines. It feeds on the bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) in July, and has a second brood in September. The moth, which rests among herbage by day, and flies towards evening, is found in June, July, and August.
The species is found throughout Central and Southern Europe, its range extending to Denmark and South Sweden; eastward it occurs in Asia Minor, Syria, and through Asia to Japan.