^44: Pontisi Chariclea and Metra. 



tkpse. But does not this circumstance, on the contraryj tend 

 rather to show that the insects in question are merely varieties 

 of the two last-mentioned species ? For it certainly would be 

 strange that two insects, which, to say the least of them, are 

 so closely allied, in habit as well as in markings and appear- 

 ance, to P. brassicae and rapae, as to be generally confounded 

 with them, and which, moreover, appear so early as the end 

 of March or the beginning of April, should be only single- 

 brooded, while their near allies P. brassicae and rapae, which 

 do not appear till later in the season, are known to produce 

 two or more broods in the course of the summer. * No mate- 

 rial diiference has yet been observed in the caterpillar or chry- 

 salis of the early whites, to distinguish them from P. brassicae 

 and rapae ; and the distinctions in the markings, &c., pointed 

 out by Mr. Stephens in proof of their being genuine species, 

 seem scarcely sufficient to outweigh what may be urged on 

 the other side. It is to be hoped, however, that, ere long, 

 Mr. Stephens will decide the question, as he proposes, by 

 rearing the insects from the egg. It is with some reluctance 

 that I have ventured an opinion in opposition to that of so 

 acute an observer as my friend, the author of Illustrations of 

 Entomology, Should these remarks meet his eye, 1 trust he 

 will excuse their freedom, my only object being the elucida- 

 tion of the truth. Let me remind him of the memorable 

 words of a great father in natural history, on an occasion 

 when he found himself under the painful necessity of dissent- 

 ing from the doctrine of a revered friend, ufAi^olv ovtolv fUoiVy 

 o<nov TTpoTifj^oiv TYjv aKYi^uuy, [Aristot. Eth.) \ 



Allesley Rectory, Oct. 30. 1828. W. T. Bree. 



P.S. — The figure of P. Metra (Vol. II. p. 227. fig. 57.) is 

 too large, and the spots and markings far too strong. If 

 Mr. Rennie advocates the doctrine that P. Metr« is a distinct 

 species, he (or the artist employed) has not made the most 

 of the case, by giving such a figure as the one referred to, 

 which appears to be nothing more than a faithful representa- 

 tion of the genuine P. rapae. He might with truth have 

 represented the insect considerably smaller, and with the 

 black tips and spots scarcely visible. Several of such nearly 

 immaculate specimens I took this season (1830), at the end 

 of March. 



* Of P. rapae there appears to be a succession of broods throughout the 

 summer and autumn. There would, of course, have been at least two (viz. 

 the spring and summer) broods previously to the 1st of August, on which 

 day, in the present year, I saw a specimen come forth from the chrysalis ; 

 and another, which I had in confinement, came out on the 29th of Septem- 

 ber. Probably P. brassicae and napi are equally productive. 



f Aristotle is alluding to his friendship for Plato ; and observes, that, 

 though both are dear to him, it is best, before all things, to respect the truth. 



