NEOPHASIA. 



NEOPHASIA MENAPIA. 1—3. 



Neophasia Menapin, (Pieris) Felder, Weiner Ent. Moiiats. Ill, p. 271, 1859. Pieris Tan, 

 Scudder, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Ilist. 1861. Ninonia, Bois. Lep. dc la Cal. 1869. 



Male. Expands 2 inches. 



Upjjer side wliite with a faint pink tinge ; costal margin of primaries partly borr 

 dored from base by a black band which curves downward at extremity covering the 

 arc ; apical border black, sinuate within, enclosing from three to five subovate white 

 spots, and terminating abruj)tly on second median ncrvule; fringes white. 



Under side white, the markings of u^^per surface repeated ; tlie apical spots 

 enlarged ; the nervures of secondaries narrowly edged by black scales, and crossed 

 by a submarginal black stripe not always complete. 



Boily black covered above with white hairs; beneath, thorax white, abdomen 

 yellowish; legs black and white; palpi same; antennae black; club black, tij) pale 

 fulvous. 



Female. Expands 2.2 inches. Similar to male. 



This fine species is as yet rare in collections. Accordmg to Felder it is found 

 in Utah. Boisduval describes it as coming from eastern California ; and Mr. 

 Scudder as found abundantly at Gulf of Georgia. Although Felder 's descrijjtion 

 was jDublished in 1859 and translated in Moi-ris's Synopsis in 18G2, none of our col- 

 lectors suspected the identity of the sj^ecies with Tau, Scudder, or Ninonia, Bois. 

 till 1870 and after the Synopsis of the Pieridae in this work had been 2)ublished. 

 Dr. Behr, in 186U, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. erected for the j^resent and an allied 

 species the new genus Neophasia, between Pontia and Pieris, "differing from 

 the former by the shape of the wing, and from the latter by its gauze-like 

 substance, by the shape and proportions of the head and the slenderness of the 

 thorax and abdomen." According to Dr. Behr, both these species are found in- 

 habiting the pine forest region of the mountain chains parallel to the coast of the 

 Pacific, and he agrees with Mr. Lorquin in the opinion that the larvae feed on 

 some coniferous tree; "an unusual food for a Pieris, but not unknown in the case 

 of certain Australian species." 



