LEPIDOPTEEA. 181 



in the shape of a Y. The chrysalis is conical, sprinkled over 

 with a bluish efflorescence resembling the bloom on a plum. The 

 Parnassius mnemosyne is found in the month of June in the moun- 

 tains of Dauphine, in Switzerland, Sicily, Hungary, Sweden, and 

 in the Pyrenees. 



In the family of the Pieridce, we will mention many species 

 remarkable in different ways, such as Pieris cratcegi, the Black- 

 veined white, Pieris brassicce, the Cabbage butterfly, Pieris napi, 

 Pieris callidice, Anthocharis cardamines, the Orange-tip, 

 Rhodocera (Gonepteryx) rhamni, and Colias edusa, or Clouded 

 yellow. Pieris cratcegi is white both above and below ; the veins 

 only of the wings are black, and become a little broader at the 

 edge of the upper wings. These black veins on a rather trans- 

 parent white ground make this butterfly resemble a gauze veil, 

 hence it French name, Le Gaze. It flies in spring and summer in 

 meadows and gardens, but is not generally common in England. 

 In the first volume of his " Travels in the North of Russia/' 

 Pallas relates that he saw insects of this species flying in great 

 numbers in the environs of Winof ka, and that he at first took 

 them for flakes of snow. The Pieris cratcegi fixes itself at sunset 

 on flowers, where it is easily taken by the hand. During the day, 

 on the contrary, it is difficult to catch. The larva, black at 

 first, afterwards assumes short yellow and white hairs, but it varies 

 much. They live in companies, under a silky web in which they 

 pass the winter. The leaves of the hawthorn, the sloe, the cherry 

 tree, and of many other fruit trees serve them for food. The 

 pupa, yellow or white, and sometimes of both colours with little 

 stripes and spots of black, is angular and terminated in front by 

 a blunt point. 



The Pieris brassier (Fig. 144), or Cabbage butterfly, is perhaps 

 the commonest of all butterflies. From the beginning of spring 

 till the end of autumn, one sees it flying about everywhere, in 

 the gardens, sometimes near and almost in the interior of towns. 

 It is of a dull white, spotted and veined with black, and it can 

 be seen at a long distance, when flitting from flower to flower, 

 in a meadow or garden. And so children wage desperate war 

 against this flying prey. The pursuit of the Cabbage butterfly 

 through the alleys of parks, along the outskirts of woods, or on the 



