REDHORNS. 



141 



clover ; but one species, which is by far the 

 most abundant, feeds on the common buck- 

 thorn (Rhamnus catharticus), a plant of a 

 very different Natural Order : they turn to 

 chrysalids in spring or summer, and to butter- 

 flies early in the autumn, and pass the win- 

 ter in that state. The chrysalis is belted and 

 attached also by the tail ; its head is pointed 

 and undivided, and seems to be held as far as 

 possible away from the food- plant to which it 

 is attached. The butterfly has six legs, per- 

 fectly formed for walking, and in all the 

 species with which I am acquainted the 

 antennae are short, and tinged with red : 

 there is also a marked prevalence of yellow 

 er orange colour in the wings ; in the Arctic 

 species, of which we know very little, a tinge 

 of dull blue is often observable. The continen- 

 tal species, Colias Nastes, Colias Phicomone, 

 and others partake decidedly of this character ; 

 and some species of the same genus, brought 

 home by our Arctic voyagers, still more nearly 

 resemble the larger Blues, such as Lyccena 

 Arion. 



49. Pale Clouded Yellow (Colias Eyale). 



49. PALE CLOUDED YELLOW. The antennae 

 are short, straight, and decidedly clubbed ; 

 they are of a reddish-brown colour, the club 

 being rather darker,and the extreme tip paler ; 

 the fore wings are slightly arched near the 

 base of the costal mai-gin, very straight in the 

 middle, and blunt at the tip : the colour is 

 sulphur-yellow, the fore wings having a black 

 band, which occupies the whole of the apical 

 area : this band is very broad at the costa, 

 and decreases gradually to the anal angle j it 

 is interrupted by a median series of conspicu- 

 ous, but not clearly defined, sulphur-coloui'ed 

 spots f a little above the middle of the wing 

 is an intensely black oval spot : the hind wings 



have a slender and ill-defined black margin, 

 and a large median saffron-coloured spot, 

 which is almost double. 



Varieties. There are two distinct shades of 

 colour among the individuals of this butter- 

 fly ; the more common colour is canary-yellow 

 or sulphur, the other white, with the faintest 

 possible tinge of yellow. Lewin, in his 

 " Insects of Great Britain," page 70, treats 

 of them as species, calling the yellow ones 

 the " Clouded Yellow," and the white ones 

 the " Pale Clouded Yellow : " he gives excel- 

 lent figures of the upper and under side of 

 each : Ha worth rejects the white ones as a 

 species, but retains them as a variety (var. /3) : 

 Dr. Leach, a most careful observer, and one 

 whose opinion all entomologists receive with 

 profound respect, says "there is a pale 

 variety of each sex ; " and the same remark 

 is repeated in Samouelle's " Useful Com- 

 pendium." Notwithstanding this accumu- 

 lation of evidence, I incline to dissent from 

 the opinion expressed ; the white or whitish 

 individuals appear to me to be exclusively 

 female, while the yellow ones are both male 

 and female, but most commonly male. At 

 page 355 of the first volume of the " Entomo- 

 logist," Mr. Dale makes an observation ex- 

 actly in accordance with my own view ; he 

 says, " Colias Hyale has occasionally a white 

 female." Notwithstanding such a repeated 

 expression of opinion in favour of considering 

 the difference of colour as specific or varietal, 

 entomologists in this country have gradually 

 arrived at the conclusion that the difference 

 in colour was only sexual a conclusion that, 

 I think, cannot be maintained. 



LIFE HISTORY. In the spring of the year 

 the EGGS are laid on various species of clover 

 and trefoil by females that have hybernated 

 in the perfect state ; they hatch in a very few 

 days, probably from five to fifteen : the young 

 CATERPILLAR is of a pale green colour, the head 

 being remarkably small in comparison with 

 the body : when in a state of repose it lies 

 along the middle of the leaf on the upper side, 

 80 that at night, when the clover shuts up its 

 leaves in sleep, the little caterpillar is quite 

 enclosed, and protected alike from wet and 



