PLATE XLVIII1. Beautiful Yellow Underwing2. Orange Underwing3. Burnished Brass
PLATE XLVIII
1. Beautiful Yellow Underwing2. Orange Underwing3. Burnished Brass
There are really two kinds of Orange Underwings, the light and the dark. But they come out at the same time, and fly about together, and are so much alike that it is not at all easy to tell the one from the other. The time to look for them is about the middle or end of March, and then, if you go into a large wood on a warm, sunny morning, you may sometimes see them flying about among birch trees. They are very fond, too, of visiting sallow, or “palm,” bushes, and sucking the sweet juices from their golden-yellow catkins. But the moment that the sun is clouded over they seem to disappear, and you will see them no more until it begins to shine again.
The caterpillars of both the Orange Underwings are dull green in colour, with yellow lines on their backs and sides, and when they walk they hunch their bodies up into loops, just like the “stick” caterpillars of such moths as the “swallow-tail” and the “willow beauty.” That of the Light Orange Underwing feeds on aspen, and that of the Dark Orange Underwing upon birch. You may find both in June and July.
This moth well deserves its name, for across its greyish-brown or reddish-brown front wings its has two broad bands of golden-green, which shine just like a piece of highly polished brass. It is “double-brooded,” coming out first in June and then again in August, and flies soon after sunset on warm, still evenings. If you want to catch it, the best place to look for it is over beds of nettles, where you may often see it flying backwards and forwards until it is too dark to see at all. But sometimes it will fly through an open window into a lighted room, and buzz about in the most excited way round the lamp or the gas-flame.
The caterpillar of this pretty moth feeds upon stinging-nettle, dumb-nettle, and burdock, and sometimes also upon thistle and wild mint. When it is not walking it always rests with its front legs held up in the air, and its body gets stouter and stouter from the head almost to the tip of the tail. It is apple-green in colour, with a number of white marks on its back shaped just like the letter V.
Printed byBallantyne, Hanson&Co.Edinburgh & London
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.