Part 11

PIERIS BELISAMA.

PLATE VII. Fig. 1.

Godart, Boisd.--Pap. Belisama, Cramer, Pl. 258, fig. A, B, C, D.

P. Belisama is another of these handsome and warmly tinted species which abound in Eastern Asia and the adjacent islands. It is generally about a third larger than our common cabbage butterflies, but smaller examples frequently occur; the male yellowish-white above, with the whole of the outer angle and the costa of the anterior wings black; the limb of the hinder pair of the same colour. Female with the greater portion of the upper wings black, the remainder pale ochreous. Under side of the upper wings black in both sexes, with a group of yellow spots on the apex, and a small transverse whitish streak at the extremity of the discoidal cell; the same side of the under wings bright yellow, inclining to orange, with a black posterior border dentated on the inner side, and bearing a row of rounded yellow spots; at the base there is a transverse red stripe lying parallel with the margin; body whitish; antennæ black.

Occurs plentifully in Java, Amboina, Sumatra, &c.

PLATE 7.

Lizars sc.

1. Java. 2. Cape. 3. Amboina.

1. Pieris Belisama. 2. Anthocharis Danai. 3. Iphias Leucippe.]

GENUS ANTHOCHARIS.

A section of Pieris has lately been established as a genus under the above name, founded, however, on characters not of a very decided description. The most important one perhaps is the shape of the chrysalis, which is boat-shaped, or equally attenuated to both extremities, somewhat arched, and without lateral points. The antennæ of the perfect insect are short, with the articulations distinctly marked, the club rather abrupt and forming an ovoid compressed mass. The common British species Mancipium Cardamines is referred to it, and this insect may be regarded as a characteristic example of the kinds which it includes. Like the Orange-tip, the majority have a patch of bright red on the tips of the anterior wings, and the under side of the posterior is often beautifully marked with green and pearl white. Several other species, besides that just mentioned, are natives of Europe, but their principal resort seems to be the intertropical countries of Africa.

ANTHOCHARIS DANÆ.

PLATE VII. Fig. 2.

Boisd.--Pap. Danæ, Fabr., Donov. Insects of India, Pl. 1, fig. 2.--Pap. Eborea, Cramer, Pl. 352, fig. C, D, E, F.--Pieris Danæ, Godart.--Pontia Danæ, Horsfield, Insects of Ind. Comp., p. 141, 68.

Surface of the male pure white; the upper wings having a large triangular patch of bright carmine at the extremity bounded on the inner side by a black oblique band, and narrowly margined with the same colour externally, where the nervures are likewise black; there is likewise a black point at the extremity of the discoidal cell: under wings with a black border, variable in breadth, and occasionally macular. Under side impure white, with a black streak at the extremity of all the discoidal cells, those on the hinder wings divided by a reddish brown point; the apex of the upper wings fulvous-red, divided by a curved row of blackish spots, continued across the under wings as far as the anal angle. The female differs from the male in having a large space at the base of the wings dusky, and the marginal hand wider, and better defined on its inner edge.

Males sometimes occur in which the marginal band is entirely wanting in the hinder wings.

Found in the East Indies, at the Cape of Good Hope, &c.

GENUS IPHIAS, Boisd.

The two conspicuous insects which at present compose this genus, were wont to be referred either to Pieris or Colias. They have certainly a close relation to both, as well as to Anthocharis, but the following characters seem to warrant their separation; antennæ long, gradually increasing into a club which is truncated at the extremity; palpi contiguous and compressed, thickly covered with scales cut of equal length, the terminal joint minute and truncated; head clothed with rather long projecting scaly hairs; thorax robust; abdomen much shorter than the inferior wings; wings very large and strong, the discoidal cell closed. The caterpillar is attenuated at both extremities and shagreened on the surface, the chrysalis much arched and fusiform at both ends.

IPHIAS LEUCIPPE.

PLATE VII. Fig. 3.

Pap. Leucippe, Fabr. Cramer, Pl. 36, fig. A, B, C.--Donovan, Insects of India.--Pieris Leucippe, Godart.

One of the largest of the Pierides, frequently measuring upwards of four inches between the tips of the wings; anterior pair bright fulvous red, clouded at the base with greenish yellow, the nervures and all the exterior parts black, the female with a row of fulvous spots parallel with the external margin, and not far from it; posterior wings citron-yellow, having a dentated or macular black border in the female, usually preceded by a curved line of spots of the same colour; but in the male marked with only one or two black spots towards the external border. Under side deep fulvous in both sexes, sprinkled with black points and marked with short transverse dusky lines, which are greatly most numerous in the female; head and thorax brown; abdomen citron-yellow; antennæ black, the extremity of the club reddish.

It is a native of Amboina; we have seen no particular account of the caterpillar, but it is no doubt similar to that of T. Glaucippe, which is described by Dr. Horsfield as of a green colour with a white lateral ray. It feeds on a species of Capparis.

GENUS CALLIDRYAS.

This genus is composed of a selection of species from Colias, to which it bears a very close relation. It is not long since it was proposed by Dr Boisduval, who thinks that the following characters entitle it to this distinction. Palpi approximating and very much compressed, clothed with short hairs and dense scales, the terminal joint conical and much shorter than the preceding one; antennæ thickening gradually from the base to the apex, which is distinctly truncated; body robust, the abdomen much shorter than the inferior wings; the latter forming a groove which completely embraces the under side of the abdomen. The caterpillars are naked and somewhat attenuated at both extremities; the chrysalis arched, or boat shaped, with the extremities drawn out to a narrow point; always attached by the tail and a transverse band.

According to the manner in which they have been respectively constituted, Callidryas therefore is best distinguished from Colias by the antennæ, which in the latter terminate in an obconical club; and from Rhodocera (including Gonopteryx of Dr. Leach), which has these organs likewise truncated, by the shape of the wings, which never present acute angular projections. The prevailing colour of the species is yellow, from deep orange to the palest sulphur yellow. The females are usually of a paler hue than the males, and the sexual differences are strongly marked in other particulars. On the under side of the wings there are almost invariably one or two small spots, near the middle, of a silvery or rusty-brown hue; these are either wanting or very minute in the males, while they are distinctly marked in the females. The former sex, in the majority of species, presents a very peculiar character in having the anterior edge of the under wings provided with a kind of pulverulent glandular sac, which varies much in size and colour in different species.

A great similarity prevails among the different species of Callidryas, and they are consequently difficult to determine. They inhabit the intertropical regions of the two continents.