RHOPALOCERA NIHONICA. 



13- Pieris rapx, L (Pi. 3. fi g- 6 -) 



crucivora, But. 



Localities All Japan. 



Food plants Cultivated cruciferje, sucli as daikon (radish), cabbages, &c. 



Time of appearance March to November. 



Varies much in size. The Japanese specimens have been mistaken for Pieris brassicx, vide Mr. 

 Elwes, P.Z.S., Nov. I5th, 1881, but this latter species does not occur in Japan. I noticed immense 

 swarms of P. rapx flying across the Bay of Kagoshima this year, but did not see any further south. 



H. Fieris napi, L. (Pi. 3. fig- S -A., 8-n.) 



megamera, But. 

 nielete, Men. 



Localities Main Island, Ytzo. 



Food plant An uncultivated crucifer, Arabis hirsuta, Scop. 



Time of appearance March to October. 



The imago first appears in March, form megamera; it is then a very different looking insect from the 

 succeeding broods (form melete}. It varies in size from if inches to 3 inches. 



For many years after I first commenced collecting here, I was surprized to find that what was then known 

 as megamera, only appeared once in the year, March and April, after which it entirely disappeared ; nearly 

 all the other Pieridae being many brooded. I was therefore very anxious to ascertain what became of the 

 larva from April until the next autumn, or whether it remained for the whole summer, autumn, and winter 

 in the pupa state. To obtain the unknown larva of a butterfly is a particularly difficult task ; the food 

 plant has to be discovered and the females induced to lay their eggs. By spending many days in 

 early spring watching the females, I was at last rewarded by seeing one busily depositing its eggs on 

 Arabis hirsuta, and from these I reared the entirely different form, melete. I was not unprepared for this 

 result from my discoveries of a like change of form in Papilio xutlius and xuthulus, &c. 



15- Anthocaris scolymus, But. (Pi- 3, fig. 4-A., 4-6.) 



Localities Yokohama, Niklco. 



Food plant Cardamine sylvatica, Sink. 



Time of appeaiance March, Apiil. 



This insect undoubtedly only appears once during the year. There are no allied forms, and it is the 

 only representative of the genus in Japan. I know little or nothing concerning its life history beyond the 

 fact that it feeds upon a bitter cress, common in marshy situations. 



