Part 10

PLATE V. Fig. 1.

Swainson’s Zoolog. Illus. 2d series, Pl. 106.--Boisduv. Spec. gener. 380.--Pap. Curius, Fabr.--Donov. Insects of India.--Erycina Curius, Godart, Ency. Meth.

This genus was first proposed by Mr. Swainson for the reception of a remarkable insect from Siam and Java, to which various situations had been assigned by different naturalists. In external aspect it has all the appearance of an Erycina, but, on examining the disposition of the nervures of the wings, the form of the palpi and antennæ, together with the structure of the feet, which are all complete in both sexes, its close affinity to the true Papiliones becomes apparent. The head and body are very thick; abdomen short; eyes large and salient; palpi very short, the articulations very indistinct; antennæ rather long, thickening at the extremity into a club which is slightly curved upwards. The anterior wings are nearly hyaline, and have the discoidal cell closed; the posterior folded longitudinally, and each drawn out into a very long tail curved at the extremity. The expansion of the wings, in the only known species, is about an inch and a half; the inner half of the superior pair black, traversed in the middle by a pretty broad green band; the exterior portion, consisting of a large triangular space, transparent, with the nervures and external border black. The inferior wings are black, edged externally with white, and having a central blue band in continuation of the anterior one. On the under side, the base of all the wings is whitish, and the abdominal margin of the under pair is marked with three curved white streaks: abdomen whitish beneath, and having a double row of black dots on each side. In the female the bands on the wings are white.

A few years ago this curious butterfly was to be found in very few cabinets, but it is now received not unfrequently.

THAIS MEDESICASTE.

PLATE V. Fig. 2.

Godart’s Pap. de France, ii. Pl. 3, fig. 3, 4.--Pap. Medesicaste, Hubn. Pap. 124, fig. 632.--Pap. Rumina, Hubn. Pl. 394, 395.--Thais Honnoratii, Boisd. Icon. Pl. 3, fig. 3-5, var.

The genus Thais is confined to the southern countries of Europe, the north of Africa, and Asia Minor. All the species are of moderate size, and may at once be known by the peculiar design of the colouring of the wings, which are always yellow spotted with red and black, and bordered externally with a dark festooned line. The palpi are composed of three nearly equal articulations, and rise conspicuously above the head; the antennæ rather short and terminating in a club slightly curved upwards. The body is slender, and the abdominal margin of the hinder pair of wings is curved downwards as if to leave room for the movements of the abdomen. The caterpillars are short and cylindrical, covered with fleshy spines and short hairs, the first segment provided with a fleshy bifurcated tentaculum. They live solitarily or in small groups on the Aristolochia, and obviously bear a considerable analogy, as well as the perfect insect, to Parnassius. The chrysalis is cylindrico-conic, somewhat angular in front.

The species represented on the annexed plate may possibly be a variety of T. Rumina. Surface pale ochreous yellow, with a black marginal band divided on the upper wings by a series of eight or nine yellow spots; along the costal margin are several black irregular transverse bands, some of them inclosing rounded red spots; inferior wings with a black festooned line along the exterior border; towards the base are always three red spots, one near the abdominal margin, another in the upper part of the discoidal cell, and a third near the anterior edge, usually united in the form of a transverse band with that in the cell. Body blackish, marked with rows of fulvous spots.

The caterpillar lives on the Aristolochia pistolochia. Sometimes the colour is reddish-yellow, at other times brown or dull yellowish-green, with numerous rows of black lines often interrupted; the body bearing six rows of fleshy spines, of an orange yellow hue, and ciliated with black at the extremity.

The insect is found in Languedoc, in the neighbourhood of Digne, &c.

GENUS PIERIS.

According to the definition which it has been found necessary to give to this genus in general works on the lepidoptera, it includes a very extensive range of species, and may be said to be represented in this country by the white butterflies, which British authors generally place in the genus Pontia. In this extended acceptation, however, it comprehends individuals somewhat diversified in appearance, and which may be assumed as the types of particular groups or sub-divisions, perhaps of sufficient importance ultimately to become genera, if a corresponding dissimilarity be found to characterise their different states and metamorphoses. The antennæ are of moderate length or slightly elongated, the articulations pretty distinct, the club obconic and compressed; palpi thickly covered with fascicles of long hairs, the terminal joint at least as long as the penultimate: wings of ordinary size, the discoidal cell closed; the under pair partially embracing the abdomen: eyes naked, head rather small.

The caterpillar is elongated, and nearly cylindrical, pubescent, and marked with longitudinal rays; the head small and rounded. Chrysalis terminating in a single conical point anteriorly, attached by the tail and a medial band.

Not fewer than one hundred and sixty-six different kinds of butterflies are referred to this genus. “They are diffused,” says Dr. Boisduval, “nearly over the whole globe, but are particularly abundant in the intertropical countries of the old continent. Considering the extent of the New World, it produces comparatively few species. The most remarkable inhabit Africa, the Indian continent and Archipelago, and New Holland. Such of the caterpillars as are known, feed almost exclusively on the cruciferæ, residaceæ, tropioliæ, and caparideæ. Our P. Cratægi is the only one in Europe which lives on trees; but it is probable that many exotic kinds are of the same habits. The prevailing colour among these lepidoptera is white, more or less pure, with a black border, variable in width, but seldom wanting. There are likewise species in which the ground colour is yellow or even orange, while in others it is blackish or blue, &c. The inferior face of the posterior wings generally differs considerably from the upper, and is often very agreeably varied with brilliant colours. The sexual differences, in certain species, are very conspicuous, particularly on the surface; in others, they are much less so, the females being distinguished from the males only by a somewhat wider border, or by having the upper wings more rounded at the apex.”

PIERIS EPICHARIS.

PLATE VI. Figs. 1 and 2.

Godart, Boisd.--Pap. Hyparete, Fabr.--Pap. Eucharis, Drury’s Insect. Pl. 10, fig. 5, 6.--Cramer, Pl. 201, fig. B, C ♂; Pl. 202, fig. C ♀.

This pretty insect belongs to a sub-division which inhabits the continent of India and the adjacent islands. The wings, which expand about three inches, are white, very faintly tinged with blue, with a broad black border, interrupted by a series of rather larger oval spots, the same as the ground colour on the upper wings, but flesh-colour on the under; the nervures, on the former, defined by a dilated black line: in the female, this is likewise the case with the inferior wings. Under side of the primary wings similar to the surface, except three marginal spots towards the apex, which are yellowish in the male and of a bright yellow in the female; secondary wings bright yellow beneath, the nervures black, and along the hinder border a row of large oval, or somewhat heart-shaped, scarlet spots, placed in a white circle; body whitish.

Common in Bengal, and many places in the more eastern parts of Asia.

PLATE 6.

1. & 2. Pieris Epicharis. 3. P. Philyra. India. Amboina.

Lizars sc.]

PIERIS PHILYRA.

PLATE VI. Fig. 3.

Godart, Boisd.--Pap. Hyparete, Cramer, Pl. 210, fig. A, B, and Pl. 339, fig. E, F.

The figure above referred to represents the under side of the female of this handsome species. The male is of a bluish-white above, surrounded with a black external margin, and having a black patch on the tip of the anterior wings, divided by an arched row of white oval spots; the female nearly black above, the inner half of the wings dull white, the apex with white oval spots: on the under side both sexes are black, with the inner half of all the wings yellow, sprinkled with minute black points; the upper pair having a small white spot at the extremity of the discoidal cell, and a posterior row of yellow oval spots largest towards the anterior margin; the under pair with seven long wedge-shaped reddish-brown spots behind the middle, becoming somewhat lighter posteriorly, making the hinder part of the wing from the middle of the discoidal cell sometimes appear entirely of that colour, with dilated black nervures and a black border.

Inhabits Amboina, New Guinea, &c. Pieris Plexaris, described by Godart (Encyc. Meth. p. 151) from a figure in Donovan’s Insects of New Holland, is regarded by a recent author as a variety.