888 



COMMON YELLOW BUTTERFLY. 



one near tlie base, and another, sometimes incomplete, midway 

 between tliis and the onter margin, near the apex, is a quite 

 dark patcli. Dashes of dull brown are scattered along the wing. 

 The moth expands nearly 3cm (1^ inches). 



The caterpillars will be seen feeding on the clover all the sum- 

 mer long, and at the same time the moths may be started on 

 their short journeys as wo walk over the clover fields. 



Colias philodice. foinnioii Yellow Butterfly, 



Order Lepidoptera, Fnmih/ PapUiotieda:. 

 Saunders, Ont. En. Report, 18S1 p. 47, 111. 

 French, 111. En. Report, Vol. VII., p. 147. 

 Packard, Guide to Studj- of Insects, p. 250. 

 What was said of the abundance of the Clover Drasteri i is 

 even more ai)])licable to our yellow butterfly. Few insects are 

 more common, more widely distributed, or better known than 

 the sulphur-yellow butterfly which gladdens the pasture and 

 roadside, and flecks the damp places along the roadways of all 

 our Xorthern States. What was said of the food, habits, and 

 destructivetiess of the Drasteria erechtea can also be said as truly 

 of Colias philodice. 



Fig. 143 shows the male and 

 female of this familiar butterfly. 

 The eggs are long, tapering, 

 ribbed, and though yellow at 

 first change as the embryo de- 

 velops, first to red and then to 

 brown, just prior to hatching. 

 The young larva is brown 

 with a yellowish tinge. La- 

 ter it changes to green. The 

 green head has a yellowish- 

 white stripe on each side, 

 with a dash of red at the 

 j^o 148 lower edge. The body is 



Fio. 143 



