34 MARP.LF,n WHITE. 



There is liarclly a more strikingly beautiful species of Butterfly 

 in our country than the IMarblecl White; the contrast of its 

 black and white markings is exceedingly pleasing. 



It is a very locally, though widely-distributed insect, in our 

 country; in Scotland, however, it is not known. 



I have taken this insect in plenty at Pinhay cliff, Devonshire, 

 near Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire, also at Marr, near Doncaster, 

 and on Buttercrambe moor, near Stamford-Bridge, Yorkshire. 

 It is taken in abundance in Hartley wood, near St. Osyth, 

 Essex, and occurs also at Manningtree, in the same county; 

 near Great Bedwyn and Sarum, AViltshire, in isolated spots 

 near woods, as J. W. Lukis, Esq. informs me. 



The perfect insect appears in June and July. 



The caterpillar feeds on the cat's-tail grass. 



The Marbled White varies in the expanse of its wings from 

 two inches to nearly two and a quarter. Its colours are a 

 fine yellowish white and black, with which the whole surface 

 of the wings is chequered over, so that one can hardly say 

 whether the white or the black is the ground-colour. There 

 is a large whitish oval spot near the base of each wing, suc- 

 ceeded by four long whitish patches, the two middle ones 

 being nearest to the outside of the wings, and smaller than 

 the others. Between these and the tip are two smaller white 

 spots, and there is a row of white spots near the margin, 

 divided by a black line, which is again succeeded by the white, 

 forming a margin, interrupted by the continuation of the black 

 which had formed the sides of the white spots before their 

 intersection by the black line. The hind wings have a large 

 oval whitish spot near the base, then an irregular black mark, 

 succeeded by a very broad bar of the former colour, then 

 black again, and then a row of white crescents, varying in size, 

 near the outside margin, divided by a black line, as in the 

 fore wings. 



Underneath the markings correspond, but the black colour 

 is much more faint and indistinct. The fore wings have a 

 small black eye, with a white centre, near the tip. The liind 

 wings have five eyes just above the white crescents near the 



