Lepidoptera The Lesser Yellow Underwing Moth – Triphana Comes
Fig. 160.-The Lesser Yellow Underwing.
This insect is very similar to the last, but is larger. The fore wings are also of a greyish or ochreous brown, and the black margin of the hind wings is proportionately narrower.
It is more abundant than Ianthina; in fact it is to be found everywhere in plenty during the month of July.
The caterpillar is yellowish brown. On the back of each of the eleventh and twelfth segments are two conspicuous dark marks. The spiracles are white, and below them is a pale brown stripe. It feeds on the foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), chickweed (Stellaria media), thrift (Armeria maritima), and other low plants in the autumn, hybernates during the winter, and attacks sallows (Salix Caprea and S. cinerea) and whitethorn (Cratagus oxyacantha) as soon as the buds appear in the spring. It is full grown in April, and then changes to a chrysalis on the surface of the earth.