202 THE NICIPPE BUTTERFLY. 
and thorax above, blackish; antennee beneath, white, 
with black incisures ; the feet are whitish; the abdo- 
men is black, each side furnished with a yellow line; 
the venter with yellow incisures. 
This insect is said by Cramer to inhabit Virginia, 
in the United States ; but it is also found in Pennsyl- 
vania, and in all the southern states. It is subject to 
some little variations ; the fine fulvous spot near the 
base of the inferior surface of the upper wings is 
sometimes white ; and the oblique lines under the 
inferior wings differ considerably in width and dis- 
tinctness. 
Schrank restricts the generic character of Pieris 
as follows :— The feet are nearly equal ; the nails 
of the tarsi, very apparent, bifid, or unidentate ; the 
inferior wings dilated beneath the ahdomen, so as 
to form a groove. 
These butterflies are natives of various regions of 
the globe ; some of them are very frequent in almost 
every field, and must have been noticed by the most 
casual observer, flitting, in a devious direction, over 
the herbage ; and, on meeting with a companion, 
mounting aloft in the air, with a hurried and irregular 
movement. Some species occasionally alight, in great 
numbers, on moist places on roads. 
The caterpillar is destitute of the retractile tenta- 
cula of the neck ; and the chrysalis is of an angu- 
lated form, attached to a fixed object by a thread 
passed around the body, the head being upwards. 
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