PLATE XLVIII
THE BEAUTIFUL YELLOW UNDERWING (1)
This is really a most lovely little moth. It is something like a very, very small “large yellow underwing.” But instead of having the front wings plain light or dark brown, with hardly any markings at all, it has them bright red-brown with pure white spots and wavy lines, while the hind-wings are of the brightest possible yellow, with a broad edging of glossy black.
If you want to see this very pretty insect, you can easily do so. All that you have to do is to ramble over a heathy common on a hot, sunny day in May or June, and you are sure, before long, to notice a Beautiful Yellow Underwing flying about over the heather. It hardly looks like a moth. It looks more like a brightly-coloured little bee. And it flies so quickly that you will have some little difficulty in catching it.
The caterpillar of this moth feeds on heather and bilberry, and is bright green in colour, with five white lines running along its body. Down its back is a line made up of short white streaks. Below this, on each side, is another line, made up of white spots. And lower down still is a third line, also made up of spots, which run up and down in a zigzag. Look for this caterpillar in August.
1. Beautiful Yellow Underwing2. Orange Underwing
3. Burnished Brass