1869] RITCHIE— ON PIERIS RAP^. 295 



interesting to ascertain how far this butterfly has penetrated the 

 country. Westwardly it has not reached Montreal, and it haS 

 not been traced south of Point Levis ; eastward it has not been 

 taken at St. Anne's, where a collector of Lepidoptera resided at 

 the time of its occurrenc»i here ; north-west it appears to have 

 made the greatest inroad, for it has been noticed at a distance of 

 thirty miles in that direction. I am safe in stating that five 

 years have not elapsed since this butterfly was introduced into 

 Lower Canada, and it is now brought before the public as an 

 unprofitable addition to our insect fauna." 



The first paper on Pieris Rupee was read by S. J. Bowles, 

 Secretary of the Quebec branch of the Entomological Society of 

 Canada, on the 7th July, 1864, wherein he describes the species 

 as first captured by him in the vicinity of Quebec in 18G3. 



'* Its identity with the English species was established by Mr, 

 Saunders, of London, Ont., and Mr. S. H. Scudder, of Boston, 

 Mass." — (See Bowles on Pieris Rapoa, Canadian Naturalist, 

 Vol. 1, New Series, 1864, p. 258.) 



I first noticed the insect in Montreal about the 26 th May, 

 1867, and again in August of the same year. In 1868 the 

 increase was very visible, — they could be seen flying in numbers 

 about the streets, alighting on any weeds growing by the 

 footpaths. 



The appearance of the insect was the subject of much 

 discussion among a few of my entomological friends at the time. 

 On comparing it with Stainton's description in his " British 

 Lepidoptera," I found it to be sometimes smaller, although 

 resembling in all particulars his description, which I will give : 

 " Expanse of wings, 1" 10'" to 2" 2'" ; wings white ; fore-wings 

 faintly blackish at tip, and bare; male spotless, or with one 

 blackish spot ; female, with two black spots and a clouded dash 

 on inner margin ; hind wings ; a black spot on costa. Larvae 

 green, irrorated with black ; a row of yellow spots on each side 

 in a line with the spiracles/' Mr. Stainton adds : " This insect 

 in its larva state feeds on cabbage, mignonette, tropgeolum, also 

 on various cruciferae." The insect may be easily known from 

 the Canadian species of Pieris, P. oleracea (the " grey veined 

 white"), and P. protodice, by the blackish tips of its wings and 

 the spots ; by these characters it may be told from the genus 

 Colias of the same family. The first are called the " whites," 

 the latter the "yellows." 



