166 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



butterfly, calling the early or vernal brood 

 " Chariclea" the later or autumnal brood 

 " firassicce." The vernal brood has gray 

 tips to the fore wings, whereas in the later 

 bro' d tl<ey are black. 



LIFE HISTORY. The EGOS are laid in May, 

 and again in July, sometimes singly and 

 sometimes in little clusters, varying in num- 

 ber from four or five to a dozen. In shape 

 they somewhat resemble a champagne bottle 

 which has had the upper part of its neck 

 knocked off; they are firmly attached by 

 means of a gummy secretion elaborated within 

 the body of the parent to the surface of the leaf 

 selected, which in this country seems to be 

 almost invariably one of the cultivated varie- 

 ties of cabbage. The attachment is by the base 

 only, and the egg stands erect like a ninepin ; 

 it has twenty or twenty-two longitudinal ribs, 

 and between thirty and forty most delicate 

 transverse lines, which pass over the ribs 

 themselves, as well as the interstices between 

 them. The CATERPILLARS of the first brood 

 usually hatch in fifteen days, those of the 

 second brood in ten days : they feed exactly 

 on the spot where the egg was laid ; if in a 

 cluster they remain in company until the 

 second change of skin, first, however, con- 

 suming the shell of the egg from which they 

 have just escaped. The caterpillars are full- 

 fed in about a month, seldom less, the period 

 varying in accordance with the temperature ; 

 they rest on the surface of the cabbage leaf in 

 a nearly straight position, and if disturbed fall 

 to the ground, beading the two extremities 

 towards each other ; but they retain this 

 position for a short time only, and then 

 turning with unerring certainty to the food- 

 plant from which they have fallen, reascend 

 the stalk. The head is narrower than the 

 econd segment, into which it is partially 

 withdrawn when the caterpillar is at rest ; it 

 is rough with numerous warts of various sizes, 

 each of which emits a hair. The body is 

 uniformly cylindrical, the divisions of the 

 segments not being strongly marked, but yet 

 distinctly discernible, and each segment is 

 transversely divided into four sections in 

 addition to a double skinfold between each 



two, thus imparting the idea that the number 

 of sections in a segment is six. Each section 

 has a series of wart-like projections of various 

 sizes, which give a rough appearance to the 

 surface, and each of these projections emits a 

 hair from the summit. The colour of the 

 head is bluish-gray, the plate above the mouth 

 being ochreous, and the warts or projections 

 black. There is a large black mark down the 

 middle of the face which divides on each side 

 of the ochreous plate already described, and 

 also a black blotch in which are situated the 

 ocelli on each side of the mouth. The colour 

 of the body is bluish-green, with three yellow 

 stripes, the narrowest of which is medio dorsal, 

 the others lateral, and iu eluding the spiracles ; 

 these three stripes, although very obvious, 

 have no clearly-defined margins, and seem to 

 melt into the blue-gray ground-colour. The 

 warts or projections are entirely black, and, 

 in many instances, form the nucleus of a small 

 black blotch ; these, occurring only or prin- 

 cipally on the blue-gray area, give a greater 

 distinctness to the stripes of the caterpillar. 

 The hairs are mostly white ; the ventral sur- 

 face, including the legs and claspers, is dull 

 yellow-green. The CHRYSALIS is attached l>y 

 a belt round the waist, as well as by the an-tl 

 extremity, which is forked or divided, the 

 notch between the divisions Wing fringed 

 with minute hooks. The head is pointed ; the 

 back is keeled, and rises into a sharp point in 

 the middle of the thorax ; the sides are also 

 irregularly keeled, the keel rising into two 

 points or lobes on each side of the body close 

 to the margin of the wing-cases. The colour 

 is bluish -white, abundantly sprinkled with 

 black spots ; the point of the head is yellow, 

 the median line of the dorsal keel also yellow, 

 but interrupted, especially at the junction of 

 the segments, by a black spot on the body ; 

 each of these black spots encloses a smaller 

 white spot. Newman. 



TIME OP APPEARANCE. May to August ; 

 particularly these two months. 



LOCALITIES. In all parts of the United 

 Kingdom more or less plentiful. This, like the 

 preceding species, has strong migrating pro- 

 pensities. At page 289 of the second volume 



