THE SUBFAMILY PIERINAE. ] 1035 



the extremities of tlie body; aiul below tlic spiracles ariotlier row sometimes witli two 

 tubercles to a segment, all bearing longer or shorter appendages which expand at 

 tip. 



Mature caterpillar. Ih'ad but sli^litly or not at all narrower tlian tlic Mrst seg- 

 ment of tlie tliorax, entirely free from it. Body cylindrical, nearly niiiforin in size 

 thronghout, tapering a very little forward on tlie anterior half and generally a little 

 more backward ; each segment divided Iransvorsely by slightly impressed lines into 

 several divisions and the whole body clothed nniformly and only with short hairs aris- 

 ing from minute warts, the larger ones arranged in transverse rows. First thoracic 

 segment without osmatcrium. Body longitudinally striped, especially along the dor- 

 sum and in the neighborhood of the spiracles. 



Chrysalis. Head furnished with a single, central, apical, conical prominence; 

 without ocellar protuberances. Dorsal surface of the abdomen, when ridged, raised 

 along the dorsal line. Posterior edges of the wings forming with each other but a 

 slight, if any, angle. The girth passes across the middle of the first abdominal seg- 

 ment. 



The distribution of this subfamily is similar to that of the fiimily as a 

 whole, for it is found in all parts of the globe, and is about equally iilnind- 

 ant in both hemispiieres, while the great majority of its members are 

 confined within the tropics. Bates, however, says that it is "poorly repre- 

 sented in the forest plains of the Amazons," the species being "most nu- 

 merous in grassy, open and mountainous countries or in districts where the 

 forests are scanty ; tiiey abound in tlic varied mountainous regions of Co- 

 lumbia" (Journ. entoni., 18G1, 229). Several genera are common to 

 both worlds but these are principally confined to temperate regions. Wal- 

 lace reviews in the Transactions of the London Entomological Society 

 (Ser. 3, vol. iv) the distribution of this subfamily and reckoning the 

 species at 760 finds the neotropical region the richest of the six zoological 

 divisions of the earth as oriven bv Sclater, containinjx nearlv two-fifths of 

 the whole, more than double that of any other region excepting the Indian, 

 which possesses rather more than one-half that of the neotropical ; the two 

 arctic regions are of course the poorest, the palaearctic, which has nearly 

 doulde the number of species of the nearctic, possessing scarcely more than 

 one-fifth tliat of the neotropical. 



Tlic butterflies are usually of medium size, nearly always white, yellow 

 or orange and not often greatly variegated. They comprise some of the 

 most delicate of buttertlies, as well as some of the strongest winged. 



They may be distinguished from the Papilioninae, not only by the ab- 

 sence of some characteristic features of the latter, but also by the split 

 claws, the presence of paronychia on the feet, the expansion of the inner 

 border of the hind wings to form a channel for tiie aljdomen, and Ijy their 

 generally rounded, entire and tailless wings, all in direct contrast to the 

 Papilioninae. Some genera indeed, owing to their mimicry of other 

 groups, differ widely from the type in the contour of the wings, yet the 

 general uniformity in this respect is very striking, especially when we con- 

 sider the great diversity of neuration, particularly in the fore wings. 



