d O L I A S P5 rene. 



JVhite African Colias. 



Generic Character. — See PI. 3. 



Specific Character. 

 C. alls albis ; anticis supra puuctulo Jiigro subcentrali oblongo ad apicem ap- 



proxinianfe ; posticis margine integen-'intis ; singulis subtiis puncto ocellari 



lineisque fulvis undulatis: sexibus similibus. 

 Wings white ; anterior vvitli a small, nearly central, oblong, black dot nearest 



the tip; margin of the posterior wings very entire, beneath all with 



a brown ocellate spot and undulated fulvous lines : both sexes alike. 



UNDER the head of Colias Pyrauthe, M. Godart has united 

 the three insects described by Fabricius, as, Pap. Pyranthcy 

 Nepthe and Giiomia, all bearing in their leading colours a very 

 near resemblance to each other. Yet as this consideration alone 

 appears to have decided this ingenious author in uniting them, 

 widiout apparently noticing the nicer but more important cha- 

 racters of form ^ proportion, and real sexual distinction, as well as 

 geography, I cannot but consider the question still remains 

 doubtful ; and although 1 am not at present prepared to offer an 

 opinion as to the actual affinity between these three insects, I 

 have litUe or no doubt that the one now figured is a really di- 

 stinct species from either of the above, which all inhabit various 

 parts of India. This, on the contrary, is from the interior of the 

 Cape of Good Hope, from whence it was brought by Mr. Burch- 

 all, among whose insects I have seen about twenty unvarying 

 specimens, but they were all males. I discovered however three 

 or four of both sexes, varying in size, in Mr. Haworth's cabinet, 

 and the perfect similarity in colour of the female with the other 

 sex is very striking : it wants of course the little tuft of hair and 

 opaque spot within the borders of the wings, so generally found 

 in the male Coliada. 



The distinctions of Colias Pyrene as a species rest on the 

 areola of the anteiior wings being considerably larger in propor- 

 tion than in the others allied to it, thus making the black dot 

 (which is always placed at the outer extremity of the areola) 

 much nearer the tip than the base : these wings are also more 

 sharply trigonal (in the male), and have only the slightest appear- 

 ance of a black margin ; the hinder wings are also perfectly en- 

 tire, and not obtusely undulated as in those insects, and the sexes 

 not differing in colour. Like most of the insects of this genns, 

 the ocellate spots beneath vary considerably ; sometimes they 

 are silvery, at other times not ; the anal valves in the male are 

 short and obtuse, and the wings in the female not so sharply 

 pointed. 

 PI. 51. 



