108 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE WEST COAST 



the species of Anthocharis are great feeders on flowers, but are 

 not often seen taking water from the damp ground. 



63. Anthocharis Thoosa. Not illustrated elsewhere. 

 Plate VIII ; Figures 63, a, aa, b, bb, c. 



Fig. 63, Male, Desert of Southeastern Cal., March, 1889; 

 Author. 



a. Male, Desert of Southeastern Cal., March, 1889; 



Author, 

 aa, Male, underside, Indio, Southeastern Cal., March, 

 1893 ; Author. 



b. Female, both sides. Copy of Type, Ex. Dr. Scudder. 

 bb, Female, Seven Palms, Desert, Feb. 28, 1893 ; 



Author. 



c. Female, underside, Palm Springs, Colo. Desert, 



1884 : Author. 



Smaller than Reakirti, but of the same group ; the orange patch 

 is decidedly paler ; the white of upperside is rather sordid ; on the 

 underside the marbling is greenish-bronze, fine-grained and 

 denser, of a negative aspect, not contrasting sharply, as in Reakirti. 



This variety is the desert form of Reakirti, as Deserti in the 

 foregoing group is the desert form of Cethura. This is the first 

 illustration of Thoosa, although it has been known for twenty- 

 seven years. Fifteen years ago, in discussing the Anthocharis 

 with Mr. W. H. Edwards, who, it cannot be denied, understood 

 butterflies better than any other man in America, he wrote me 

 this : "Thoosa has no affinity with Cethura. I saw the specimens 

 at the time, and I regard it as a good species. Dr. Scudder has 

 the type." (I will explain that originally there were two or three 

 specimens of Thoosa, that Dr. Scudder kept his type, which is 

 now in the Harvard Museum, and that the others, one or two, 

 have disappeared, and are probably lost.) Therefore, in 1892, 

 having then the preparation of this book in hand, I wrote to Dr. 

 Scudder asking that Thoosa might be copied for me, in any way 

 that might please him, at my expense ; and he caused ]\Ir. Blake, 

 the entomological artist, to copy it for me; and after examining 

 the copy "point by point," Dr. Scudder certified that it was 

 "O. K." This pen-copy is photographed in this plate as the fourth 

 in the line, lettered b. The left-hand wings are the upperside, and 

 the right-hand ones are the underside. I am thus careful in giving 

 the pedigree of Thoosa, as a great deal of misapprehension is 



