THE ORANGE TIP BUTTERFLY. 



ORANGE TIP BUTTERFLY. 



which is occasionally visible in very fine specimens of C. edusa. And this species, as well as all the 

 other orange species of Colias known, has two varieties of the female, one orange, and another much 

 scarcer of a whitish colour. The Pale Clouded Yellow (C. kyale) is of a pale yellow colour, with 

 narrower borders, and is a much scarcer insect than C. edusa in England, though more abundant 

 on the Continent. 



The Orange Tip (Euchloe cardamines) is a very pretty spring Butterfly, found in woods and 

 meadows in April and May. It is white, with a black spot at the 

 end of the cell of the fore wings, which are likewise tipped with 

 dusky, and there is a large orange blotch filling up the whole space 

 between, in the male only. The under surface of the hind wings and 

 of the tip of the fore wings is chequered with green and white. It 

 is an insect of weak flight, and very easily captured , but it is 

 fond of settling with its wings closed on the flowers of umbelliferous 

 plants as observed by the late Mr. T. W. Wood and as the colour of 

 the under surface of the Butterfly is very similar to that of the plant, 

 it is reasonable to suppose that it often escapes observation in this manner. The caterpillars are 

 green, with a white stripe on each side, and feed on various cruciferous plants. The pupa is 

 pointed at both ends, and somewhat resembles a boat in shape. 



Orange Tips, belonging to the nearly allied genus Teracolus, are common in Africa, but most of 

 these have either a black band on the inner margin of the fore wings, or a black border, or black mar- 

 ginal spots on the hind wings, and are not mottled with white and green beneath. In some species, 



however, the orange blotch on 

 the fore wings is replaced by 

 the most beautiful violet. The 

 species of Hebomoia are rare 

 insects, found in the Moluccas. 

 One species only (H. glaucippe) 

 is also common in India. It 

 measures upwards of four 

 inches across the wings, which 

 are of a slightly yellowish- 

 white. The outer portion of 

 the fore wings is triangularly 

 black, filled up by a broad 

 band of connected orange spots, 

 indented outwardly by the 

 black border, and marked with 

 an irregular row of small black 

 spots in the middle. 



The Papilioninae, are in 

 general much larger and hand- 

 somer Butterflies than the 

 Pierince. They exhibit great 

 varieties of form and colouring, 

 and the hind wings are gener- 

 ally dentated, and often tailed. 

 The caterpillars are of various 

 shapes, but are usually rather 

 stout, and sometimes thicker in the middle than at the extremities. They have always a retractile 

 fork on the segment behind the head, which is believed to be serviceable in driving away Ichneumon 

 Flies, or other enemies. 



The genus Parnassius more resembles the Pierince than any other of this group. The Butterflies 

 -are all mountain insects, and are confined to Europe, Asia, and the west of North America. The 

 245 



ORANGE TIP KUTTERFLY AT REST. 



