34 



very much paler than the same heetle when taken in 

 Sicily. Specimens of Pieris Brassicce, Linn, (the White 

 Cabbage-Butterfly, — an insect of widely acquired range), 

 from Nepaul and Japan, are recorded* to have differed 

 so strongly from the ordinary European type as to have 

 been referred, by Boisduval, in doubt to that species. 

 Mr.Westwood has received the Vanessa Atalanta, Linn., 

 from North America, receding slightly from its British 

 analogue; but which he, nevertheless, does not regard 

 as specifically distinct : and such also (he adds) was the 

 opinion of Mr. Kirby, who has described his American 

 examples under that name. The common Hipparchia 

 of Madeira I believe to be a fixed geographical modifica- 

 tion of the H. Semele, Linn., of our own country, — in 

 which the paler bars of the upper surface are evanes- 

 cent ; — there are, however, I imagine, but few entomo- 

 logists who would concur with me in this hypothesis. 

 The Madeiran specimens of Lycmna Phlceas, Linn, (the 

 Small Copper Butterfly), are invariably darker, and more 

 suffused, than the English ones : and Mr. Westwood re- 

 marks that he possesses examples from North America 

 which " differ in the decided black spotting of the imder 

 side of the hind wings, in the bright red streak near 

 their hind margin, and in wanting the minute spot on 

 the costa of the fore wings ; but that these characters can 

 scarcely be held to constitute a distinct species f." 

 Few observers can have failed to remark, that increased 



* The Butterflies of Great Britain (London, 1865), p. 17. 

 t Id. p. 94. 



