IC) HAUSTELLATA.—LEPIDOPTERA. 



Pa» Brassicse. LinnL—Don. xiii. pi 446.— Po. Brassicae. Steph. 



Catal. 

 Both sexes of this destructively common insect have the upper surface of aU the 

 wings white, with the tip of the anterior wings above black, the patch on its 

 inner edge being indented, the points of the indentations following the direc- 

 tion of the nervures, and the extreme tip being sUghtly irrorated with white, 

 with the cilia waved with black and yellowish : the female has also two 

 roundish transverse spots on the disc, and an elongate triangular one on the 

 thinner margin of the wing : the costa and base of the anterior wings are irro- 

 rated with dusky, and sometimes tinged with yellowish : and the posterior 

 wings have a black costal spot : beneath, the under surface of the anterior wings 

 in both sexes is similar; the tips being yellowish, the base sUghtly irrorated 

 with dusky, and two transverse spots adorning the disc : the posterior wings are 

 pale yellowish, with a very obsolete costal spot, and are rather thickly sprinkled 

 with dusky, especially in the female : the body and antenns are black above, 

 and white beneath, the latter have an interrupted brown Une from the base to 

 the capitulum, which gives them the appearance of being annulated, the ca- 

 pitulum itself is yellowish at the tip. 



Var. /3. Male with a black spot on the disc of the anterior wings. 



Var. y. Female with the upper surface of the posterior wings yellowish. 



The caterpillar is greenish with three yellow longitudinal lines, one placed on 

 the back, the others on the sides ; between these are several tubercular black 

 spots, each bearing a pale hair : the tail is black : the chrysalis is greenish, 

 spotted with black, with three yellow stripes. 



This species makes its appearance about the middle of May, or 

 earlier if the weather be favourable, and towards the end of the 

 month it lays its eggs, which are obtuse and elevated vertically, in 

 clusters on the under side of cabbage leaves. The caterpillars are 

 hatched in a few days, and continue to feed together till the end of 

 June ; they then prepare to undergo their change, and search for a 

 convenient place to attach themselves : when they have made choice 

 of a situation they fasten their tail by a web, and carry a strong 

 thread of silk round their body near the head, and after hanging a 

 few hours, the chrysalis becomes perfectly formed ; in about sixteen 

 days the butterfly is produced; — but in the year 1818, when the 

 various species of Pontia abounded so greatly near the metropolis 

 as to attract the notice of the public journalists, I had a brood of 

 this species, which was scarcely seven complete days in the pupa 

 state : — the thermometer during the period varying from 70° to 80**. 

 The caterpillars from this brood become full fed by the middle of 

 September, and change to the pupa, in which state they continue 

 throughout the winter, and put on their final change in the follow- 

 ing spring about May. 



