THE riERIDL 8 1 



cornice, or a safe projection under which they may turn into 

 chrysalides, and rest in safety until the spring-time of the next 

 year. Myriads of them are killed by remorseless market gar- 

 deners, and devoured by birds ; but were it not for a little 

 ichneumon fly {Microgaster glomerator) the existence of cabbages 

 would indeed be imperilled. 



The caterpillars change their skin several times during their 

 growth, and finally hang themselves up by the tail, and sling 

 a silken girdle round their body before undergoing the meta- 

 morphosis into the chrysalis. 



Some small Picridi, whose delicate wings are ordinarily varie- 

 gated with green colours, form the genus Anthocharis. This name 

 indicates the grace and exquisite beauty of the little butterflies 

 that rival the flowers they roam over in symmetry. The orange- 

 tip Anthocharis cardammcs, so common in the spring of the year 

 in wood-side lanes, quite deserves its title, and it is the male 

 whose fore wings are marked with an orange spot. In the centre 

 of France, and in Southern Europe, there is another Anthocharis, 

 whose males have perfectly yellow wings. But so far as colouring 

 is concerned, there are some remarkable facts in reference to some 

 species of the genus which have white tints on the upper surface 

 of the wings in both sexes. The Anthocharis bclia of the centre 

 of France sometimes wanders close to Paris, and is found in 

 Southern Europe and in North Africa. There are two gene- 

 rations of it every year. The first butterflies escape from 

 the chrysalis state in the months of March and April, having 

 been in that condition all the winter. Their hinder wings are 

 of a delicate yellow green below or on their under surfaces, 

 and are ornamented with spots of the purest nacreous white. 

 These butterflies produce a new generation, whose adults appear 

 at the end of June or to the beginning of August. These are 

 larger than the first, and their wings are marked with a dull 

 white. 



This interesting variation in the colouring of the same 

 species at different times of the year is seen also in one of 

 the VancsscB ( Vanessa prorsd), whose successive generations are 

 so different that separate names have been given them. The 

 butterflies of this species, which are common in France, are 



G 



