LEPIDOPTERA. 



183 



in the Pyrenees. Its caterpillar lives near the regions of perpetual 

 snow, on small, cruciferous plants. 



The Orange-tips have, in the males, the extremity of the upper 

 wings of a beautiful orange yellow. The rest of the wings is 



Fig. 146. Pieris napi. 



Fig. 147. Anthocharis curdamines. 



white in the only British species (Fig. 147), which is to be seen in 

 meadows from the end of April till the end of May, and sulphur- 

 coloured in some other species. 



One species extremely common, and which appears with but short 

 interruption from the beginning of spring till the end of autumn, 

 is the Brimstone butterfly (Rhodocera (Goncpteryx) rkamni). The 

 wings are a lemon yellow, with an orange-coloured spot in the 

 middle of each, and the front border terminated in a series of very 

 small iron-coloured spots. The body of the butterfly is black 

 with silvery hairs. 



The Colias edusa, or Clouded yellow, so called from the colour 

 of the upper part of its wings, is not uncommon in meadows 

 and fields in early autumn throughout Europe. The upper side 

 of the wings is of a marigold yellow ; the upper ones having 

 towards the middle a large spot of black. At the extremity of 

 each wing is a broad black band, continuous in the case of the 

 male, interrupted by yellow spots in the female. The back of the 

 body is yellow ; the legs, as well as the antennae, rosy. 



The family of the Lycaida comprises a great number of species, 

 some of which we will mention. 



The Thecke, or Hair-streaks, which the French call Petit Porte- 

 queue, on account of the tails which grace the hind margin of the 

 hind wings, inhabit woods, their larvae feeding according to the 

 species on the birch, the oak, the plum-tree, the bramble, &c. 



