THE WHITE BUTTERFLIES. 389 



manner the garment which it has thrown off. The colour of 

 this caterpillar is a beautiful leafy green, the interstices between 

 the segments being velvet-black. Upon each of the twelve 

 segments of the body there is a black bar, which in all the seg- 

 ments except the second is adorned with six orange spots. 

 There are other markings, but these are the most charac- 

 teristic. 



This beautiful larva feeds on several plants, such as the 

 hog's-wort, or cow-parsnip {Heracleum, sphondylium), the 

 marsh-parsley {Peucedanum palustre), and even on the leaves 

 of the common carrot, when nothing better can be obtained. 

 Larvae of this splendid Butterfly have been successfully reared 

 upon carrot leaves. 



When the caterpillar is full-fed, it quits its food-plant, 

 crawls up the stem of a weed, and there assumes the pupal 

 form, binding itself to the weed by a sort of belt, like that of 

 the chrysalis shown in Woodcut XL. Fig. b. This belt may 

 be almost called a cable, for it is very stout and strong, as well 

 as elastic, and will sustain a considerable tension before it is 

 snapped. There are many British Butterflies whose pupae are 

 thus girt to the object on which they undergo their trans- 

 formation. Mr. Newman gathers these together in a group, 

 which he terms Succinctly or Girted Chrysalids, All these 

 pupse have the head directed upwards. 



The next family, the Pieridae, is distinguished by the fact 

 that the hind wings form a sort of receptacle in which the 

 abdomen lies. The larvae do not possess the nuchal horn, and 

 are wider in the middle and narrower at the two ends. The 

 insects which compose this family are the most familiar of our 

 English Butterflies, and are popularly known as White Butter- 

 flies. There are, however, several White Butterflies that do not 

 belong to this group, and several that belong to it which can 

 scarcely be called white. However, the popular name is 

 expressive, though not wholly accurate. 



Common as they are, they have raised great controversy 

 among entomologists, and have been shifted backwards and for- 

 wards into the various genera, until it is scarcely possible to 

 reconcile the conflicting statements. ' Who shall decide when 

 :li)ctors disagree ? ' So we will not attempt to decide upon 



