Lepidoptera The Six-spotted Burnet Moth – Zygana Filipendula
Fig. 106.-The Six-spotted Burnet.
So common is this moth, and so conspicuous when it flies in the blazing sun, that it must be familiar to almost everybody. On a bright midsummer day hundreds may often be started from their grassy beds from one little patch of ground.
The colouring of the wings is much the same as in the last species, but there are two crimson spots instead of one near the tips of the fore pair.
Fig. 107.-The Larva of Filipendula.
The larva may be seen in vast numbers during May and June, feeding on clovers (Trifolium pratense and T. repens), and the bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus); and in the latter month thousands of the chrysalides, inclosed in shuttle-shaped cocoons on grass stems, may be seen on downs and sunny banks in almost every part of the country.
The caterpillar, which is yellow, may be known by the two rows of black spots that adorn each segment of the body.