112 GENUS PONTIA. 



The judiciousness of the above observations, few who 

 have had an opportunity of examining the insects to 

 which they refer will, we think, hesitate to acknow- 

 ledge ; and, taken in connexion with other points of 

 agreement subsequently pointed out, they seem to 

 leave little doubt about the propriety of regarding 

 the reputed new species as mere varieties. Several 

 competent observers, however, being still inclined 

 to consider them distinct, it may be as well in the 

 meanwhile to regard them in that light, till it be seen 

 whether further investigations tend to confirm or 

 confute this opinion. With the view of aiding such 

 inquiries, we have described P. Chariclea, Metra, 

 and SabelliccB, and given figures of them from cha- 

 racteristic examples procured from the cabinet of the 

 eminent naturalist by whom they were first named 

 and described as likely to prove genuine species. 



The true Pontia may be known by the following 

 characters : Antennae long and slender, terminating 

 in a somewhat abrupt, compressed, obconic club, 

 consisting of seven or eight joints, and grooved on 

 one side ; palpi clothed with scales, and fringed with 

 hairs externally, the terminal joint longer than either 

 of the preceding; anterior wings nearly three-cor- 

 nered, the apical angle not very acute ; the posterior 

 wings rounded and not variegated beneath : legs alike 

 in both sexes, the claws slightly forked. The chry- 

 salis terminates anteriorly in a single beak, and is 

 attached by the tail, and has a loose band round the 

 middle. 



