NOTES ON THE LEPIDOPTERA OF BRINDISI. 233 



being most numerous in May when it is to be seen commonly at 

 thistle and scabious blossoms. The examples tend to run larger than those 

 at home but on the whole there is no marked variation. I have frequently 

 found specimens at rest on the dry, inflated seed-heads of Nigella, 

 which is a common weed throughout the district. The females will 

 oviposit on the most stunted and unpromising plants of fennel, and 

 the resultant larvi^ may be found in every month from June ta 

 December. It was in the middle of December that I once found a 

 very dark larva of this species in which the bright green ground colour 

 had practically disappeared owing to the expansion of the black band 

 on each segment. The orange spots were also much reduced in size. 



Iphiclides poihlini(s is not on the wing so long as the last species. 

 It appears in April and continues in varying numbers until September. 

 The specimens are larger and paler than my Rhone valley examples and 

 the tails are somewhat longer, though the difference is not very marked. 

 When a male and female chance to meet they will often fly to a great 

 altitude chasing one another till almost out of sight, and it is a fine sight 

 to see them sail down from the height with motionless wings and tails 

 trailing out behind like a swallow's. In my experience P.vwchaon rarely, 

 if ever, glides with motionless wings. This species will often oviposit 

 on a bush less than two feet in height. Pieris brassicae and P. rapae 

 are met with the year round, but they vary greatly in numbers from year 

 to year, especially the former. In 1907 P. brassicae was in enormous 

 numbers from May until August, but a very large percentage of the 

 larvffi found in the autumn months were "stung." Both species 

 roost largely in the great clumps of a herbaceous yellow-flowered 

 Salvia which is common in the lanes. The undersides of the leaves 

 of these plants are nearly white and the Pierids deliberately seek them 

 out for their roosting-places. Pieris napi I have never met with here 

 and doubt very much whether it occurs. Pontia daplidice is to be 

 met with from March to September and at times rivals P. brassicae 

 and P. rapae in numbers, but it does not share their preference for 

 the purple composite flowers, haunting instead the small incon- 

 spicuous blossoms of many species of [Mbiatae such as Melissa. The 

 form bellidice is met with, but not frequently, the majority of the 

 examples found being fine, large and well marked insects. Colias 

 editsa is another of the species to be met with the year round, but it is 

 most abundant in May and August. The Brindisi specimens are of a 

 large size and well coloured, many of the males having a rich purple 

 safi'usion when fresh. The spring brood begins to appear very early 

 in May in good years, and a week later the butterfly is everywhere, but 

 is especially common on the rough ground at the mouth of the 

 harbour. The ab. ? helice I have not met with. C. edusa commonly 

 rests on the yellow leaves of a herbaceous Senecio, choosing its roost 

 very carefully and seldom, if ever, settling down upon a leaf that does 

 not " tone " with its own colours. Gonepterux cleopatra is common 

 from February onwards except for about eight weeks, viz., from the 

 middle of April to the middle of June, at the end of which time the 

 new brood appears. Ova and larvfe are to be found freely on the 

 evergreen buckthorn but I have not yet succeeded in finding the 

 pupa. This butterfly is especially fond of red flowers and I should 

 think there can be few finer sights in Nature than that to be enjoyed 

 at Brindisi on a fine day in June, when numbers of f I'esh S G. deupatra 



