164 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



be found in any work on American entomo- 

 logy ; Mr. Couper, to whom I applied for 

 assistance, was equally at a loss to determine 

 the species, considering it, as I did, to be 

 indigenous to Canada. In order to solve the 

 problem, however, we forwarded some speci- 

 mens to Mr. William Saunders, of London, 

 C.W., who pronounced them to be identical 

 with Pieris Itapce, the small white butterfly 

 of England, one of the most common and in- 

 jurious lepidopterous insects of that country. 

 In the meantime I had enclosed a drawing of 

 the butterfly, together with the wings, to 

 Mr. S. H. Scudder, of Boston, from whom I 

 received a reply stating that, after comparing 

 the drawiug and wings with specimens of 

 P. Rupee in the Museum of Comparative 

 Geology at Cambridge, he saw no reason to 

 consider them distinct ; at the same time he 

 de.-ired further investigation to be made 

 respecting the caterpillar and chr) salis states 

 of the insect. This investigation has been 

 successfully carried out, and places beyond 

 doubt the identity of the butterfly with the 

 English P. RapcB t thus establishing another 

 instance of the transportation of a lepido- 

 pterous insect across a wide expanse of ocean, 

 and its naturalization in a new country 

 an instance which, when the evidence is 

 considered, must be regarded as the most 

 conclusive on record. The identity of the 

 English and Canadian species is thus proved 

 by the exact similarity of the two insects in 

 all their stages. That the perfect insects are 

 alike in both sexes I have on the authority 

 of the gentleman above named, for in Quebec 

 I could have no opportunity of comparing 

 specimens taken in both countries. It is 

 singular, too, that a curious variety of the 

 male is common to both ; in Canada, how- 

 ever (perhaps from the effect of a different 

 climate), it is more frequently met with than 

 in England. Two males of a bright canary 

 colour, but with the usual markings of the 

 spocies, were captured here last summer, one 

 by Mr. Couper, the other by me ; and this 

 season I ha\e already seen several similar 

 individuals. On referring to a valuable work 

 in the library of Parliament (' Curtis's Farm 



Insects,') I was gratified to find that the 

 author mentions having in his collection a 

 male P. Rap&, 'taken near Oldham, in Lan- 

 cashire, which had all the wings of a bright 

 yellow colour.' As to the chrysalis, in size, 

 colour, and markings, it exactly agrees with 

 engravings and descriptions of the English 

 chrysalis, and also in its usual place of depo- 

 sition, &c. The last link in the chain is 

 furnished by the similarity of the caterpillar, 

 which also agrees with the best English de- 

 scriptions. I took several of these caterpillars 

 from cabbage plants in hot-beds on the 8th of 

 June, and have reared four of them to ma- 

 turity. When about half-grown they began 

 to exhibit the characteristic markings of the 

 species, these markings becoming more de- 

 cided as they increased in size. That this 

 insect is not native to Canada is certain from 

 two interesting circumstances connected with 

 its history. A limit can be set to its existence 

 in Canada, and the place where it first ap- 

 peared can be specified. Until within a few 

 years the butterfly was unknown in this 

 country. No description of it is found in 

 Kirby's * Fauna Boreali-Americana,' nor in 

 the 'Canadian Naturalist' by Gosse, who 

 visited Quebec and collected here about 1839. 

 The 'Synopsis of the Smithsonian In^titu- 

 tion ' is also wanting in this respect; and I 

 have carefully examined the volumes of our 

 magazine of natural history (' The Canadian 

 Naturalist,' Montreal), without finding any 

 notice of the species. This periodical contains 

 two lists of Lepidoptera collected in Lower 

 Canada, one by Mr. R. Bell, jun., of butter- 

 flies taken on the Lower St. Lawrence ; the 

 other, by Mr. D'Urban, of those found in the 

 vicinity of Montreal in 1857, 1858, and 1859. 

 The only Pieris mentioned in these lists is P. 

 oleracea, a species which may be distinguished 

 at a glance from Rapce, the markings being 

 altogether different. Mr. Couper captured a 

 specimen of Rapte within the city limits of 

 Quebec, about five years ago, but did not 

 investigate the subject, though considering 

 the insect a rare one, his special study being 

 Coleoptera. This is the earliest notice of the 

 butterfly in Canada ; and it evidently points 



