BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



THE BATH WHITE. (Pirns I'fapUdioe.) 

 (Plate IV. fig. 5, Female.) 



OP all the members of this white-winged genus thai 

 inhabit Britain, this is at the same time the most beau- 

 tiful and the rarest. The capture of a Bath White is 

 an entomological " event," and the day thereof is a red- 

 letter day in the fortunate captor's life. 



On the opposite coast of France, however, and gene- 

 rally on the Continent, far from being a rarity, this is 

 one of the commonest butterflies a fact difficult for an 

 English collector, removed by only a few miles of sea, 

 to realise, or reconcile with the extravagant value anc 1 

 importance attached to a true " British specimen." 



The remark made under the head of the Black- 

 veined White, as to that eluding the net of the novice, 

 by its resemblance to a common kind, will apply with 

 atill greater force to this one ; for I suppose there are 

 few even of the tolerably experienced "hands" who could 

 tell this from the two last described insects, at a short 

 distance. One curious circumstance bearing on this is, 

 that a large per centage of the Bath White captures in 

 this country have been made by juvenile beginners, 

 who hunt and catch everything they seo ; Common 

 Whites and alL 



