THE CAPER BUTTERFLY. 101 



CHAPTER LV. 



THE CAPER BUTTERFLY. 



(Pier is teutonia^ Fabt\) 



Order : Lepidoptera. Sub-family : Pierincce. 



In certain seasons this is one of our commonest butter- 

 flies, while at other times it is comparatively rare. In 

 that excellent little work, Victor'ian Butterflies^ by Messrs. 

 Anderson and Spry, the following description of this 

 insect is given : — " White, with intensely black markings, 

 the females (see Fig. VI.) having considerably more mark- 

 ing than the male, and both sexes in the summer brood 

 having more black than the spring specimens. Some 

 forms of the female have secondaries almost black, under- 

 side of primaries similar to upper surface, underside of 

 secondaries with the veinings all broadly black, the base 

 and the white spots in hind margin clouded with orange 

 to a greater or lesser degree in some specimens quite 

 suffused. This is the most typical and interesting species 

 of our Pierince. As stated above, it varies very con- 

 siderably, and the early collectors had the different forms 

 in their collections under several names, the Pieris Clj/tis, 

 of Donovan, said to occur in Victoria, was probably this 

 species. Each brood has a wide range of variation, but, 

 as mentioned, the summer brood is more particularly 

 inclined to dark forms. It is very widely distributed, 

 extending from the continent to Mew Guinea, the New 

 Hebrides, Fiji, the Friendly Islands, &c., and when its 

 strong migratory instinct is taken into account this is 

 only what might be expected. As stated previously, it 

 possesses this peculiar proclivity to a remarkable degree, 

 in some years great numbers may be observed steadily 



