Zoology.'i NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. ITnsects. 



Plate 9. 

 PIERIS (THYCA) HARPALYCE (Don.). 



[Genus PIERIS (Boisd.). (Sub-kingd. Articulata. Class Insecta. Order Lepidoptera. 

 Section Rhopalocera. Fam. PieridEe ) 



Gen. Char. — Larva cylindrical, moderately elongated, tapering towards both ends, covered 

 with scattered small hairs, slightly granular. Head small, rounded. Pupa angulated, slightly 

 compressed, sometimes tuberculated, terminating anteriorly in a slender projection ; attached 

 by the tail and a transverse silk line at various inclinations from horizontal to nearly vertical. 

 Imago : Head small, hairy, eyes moderate. Palpi rather longer than the head, slightly com- 

 pressed, clothed with long stiff hairs, the last joint slender, scaly, about as long as the second. 

 Antenna; of moderate length with an obconic club usually compressed. Thorax moderate, 

 clothed with long hairs. Anterior wings subtriangular ; subcostal nerves from 2 to 4 branched, 

 upper discoidal nerve united to the subcostal for some distance beyond the cell. Posterior 

 wings obovate, discoidal nerve forming a third median nerve, inner margin forming a very 

 distinct channel for the reception of the abdomen. Legs moderate ; claws deeply bitid. Paro- 

 nychia shorter, broad, subtriangular ; pulvUlus as long as the claws, jointed. Abdomen rather 

 slender, shorter than the posterior wings. 



Sub-genus Thyca (Wallengren). Only one subcostal nerve given off before the end of the 

 cell, the first being absent. Larva with moderately long scattered hairs. Pupce very spinous 

 along the ventral surface.] 



Description. — Female : — Width of wings from 2 inches 7 lines to 3 inches 2 

 lines. Wing's of a greyish-white, with a slight greenish or yellow tinge, having a 

 black border, varying very much in width, broadest at the angles of the upper wing-, 

 with 4 to 6 whitish spots of a lighter color than the centre of the wing between the 

 nervures, the corresponding spots on the under side being of a fine king's or gamboge 

 yellow, usually 6 in number ; the ground color of the under wing is of a dark-grey 

 with the black margin sometimes reaching considerably within the discoid cell, the 

 tip of which is then marked with a light spot, the color of the middle, or a black 

 spot is seen inside the discoid cell when the black margin does not reach it; the base 

 is black ; hinder wings rounded, having a broad black margin and yellowish-grey 

 base on the upper side, on the lower side having a row of 6 or 7 large black spots 

 round the margin, with 6 or 7 large bright vermilion red spots forming a sinuous 

 row, separated from the black margin by a narrow light-greyish interval which is 

 continued along the nerves so as to separate the black margin into spots ; this same 

 light-grey forms a large spot at the end of the discoid cell between which and the 

 red band is a large black spot, a black band about as large as the red one being in 

 contact with it on the other parts of its basal edge ; on the basal margin of this 

 black band is another greyish band leaving the base intensely black except near 

 the anterior margin, which is marked by a large vermilion spot ; thorax and 

 abdomen greyish above, yellow below; legs and feet black. J!/«fe generally smaller 

 than the female, from 2 inches 8 lines to 3 inches 1 line wide ; upper surface much 

 purer white than in the female, with much narrower black margin and smaller white 

 spots in the black near the tip usually 4 or 5 in number, the under side agreeing 

 nearly in color with the female except that the abdomen is whiter. 



Lanes nearly smooth, thick, cylindrical, with small head of a dark-brown color, 

 with thinly scattered, rather short white hairs. 



Pvpa about 1 inch 2 lines long, of a brownish-black glossy surface, carinated 

 along the ventral aspect, without spines on the thorax, with the six anterior 

 segments of the abdomen forming spines slightly arched forwards, with usually a 

 ^«<=-i- [ 33 ] E 



