4 , THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



which I found from time to time dead, I was only able to account 

 for about 580, instead of about 850. As the larvae were care- 

 fully protected against earwigs, which are so destructive to 

 young Colias larvae, and not finding any trace of their remains, 

 I am quite at a loss to understand what became of about 270 ; 

 possibly cannibalism might account for some, but that seems 

 hardly likely to be the case, otherwise I think I could not have 

 failed noticing some trace of them, unless they fell from the 

 plants and quickly decayed among the stems and earth, and 

 thus escaped my notice. 



However, the result attained is sufficiently satisfactory, as the 

 helice form a most interesting and beautiful series, varying as 

 they do in depth and tone of colour ; the primaries vary in 

 ground colour, from a mellow huffish orange to pure white. 

 Between these two extreme forms every gradation of tone exists, 

 even to clear lemon-yellow ; there is also much variation in the 

 secondaries ; those with the deepest coloured primaries have the 

 secondaries only very slightly greyer than a normal female ; while 

 the whitest specimens have delicate lilac-grey secondaries ; two 

 dozen specimens are more or less of the huffish orange form, 

 being intermediate between the normal edusa female and a typical 

 helice. The spots on the marginal borders vary a good deal in 

 size and number ; also does the central orange spot in the 

 secondaries ; in some it is intensely rich and deep in colour ; in 

 others it is light chrome-yellow, encircled with pale lemon- 

 yellow. The under sides present most beautiful delicacy of 

 colouring, especially the primaries, and one specimen has the 

 whole of the ground colour of the primaries of a soft orange hue ; 

 the discoidal spots also vary much in size. Two of the helice 

 are rather singular aberrations, one having the whole of the 

 costal area of all four wings, from the median nervure to the 

 apex, of a pale greyish buff, making the usual black of the apex 

 and discoidal spots very faint, and the central secondary spots 

 very pale yellow ; the antennae are also pale grey, instead of rosy 

 red. The other specimen has the whole colouring very pale, the 

 only part of the marginal band approaching to black is that at 

 the anal angle of the primary, but the discoidal spots remain 

 quite black. 



The males bred vary a great deal in depth of ground colour, 

 showing all degrees of strength, from a very deep rich orange, to 

 the palest chrome-yellow ; the marginal bands also vary in 

 width, and those of the primaries are all more or less powdered 

 with yellow scales ; none have the borders anything like so black 

 as in captured specimens ; in many examples the yellow nervules 

 run through the borders of all the wings ; in one specimen they 

 are so strongly marked that it gives the insect a strikingly 

 different appearance. A large proportion of the males have the 

 secondaries shot with a beautiful amethystine hue. 



