THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



807 



A-ho will in future supply the trade ; and we 

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 B procuring copies through a local Bookseller. : 



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CORRESPONDENCE. 



Dear Sirs, — Last month I found a few larvas 

 )f 0. Potataria. They spun up about ten days 

 igo, and finding some small Ichneumons in 

 :he breeding cage, I opened the Cocoons, one 

 :>f which contains many small Chrysalides, 

 .vhich I suppose to be Ichneumons. — Yours I 

 :ruly, Thos. W. King. 



3, The Terrace, Camberwell, July 15th. 

 "The pupae you kindly send, and for which 

 we are obliged, as they will be most useful I 

 to us, are those of Diptera, and not Ichneu- 

 mons, as you suppose. We cannot tell the 

 name of them until the imagines appear. 

 Did you breed Ichneumons from the 

 Potatoria ? — Eds.] 



EXCHANGES. 



Duplicates: — Pupae (in cocoons), Z. 

 Uipendulcc. Desiderata : — Numerous.— A. 

 3 ram well, Prior Street, Gateshead-on- 

 Tyne. 



Preserved larvae of N. zonaria, Imagines of j 

 Z'.caja; E. Uneolata ; a few N. zonaria (fair); 

 M. Persicarios; II. oleracara ; C. hybrida; 

 Parasites ; numerous rocks, minerals, and 

 fossils. Would prefer in return, Lepidoptera, 

 Hymenoptera, or Fossils. — C. H. H. Walker, 

 180, Falkner Street, Liverpool. 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



By J. E. Robson ; with figures from life by 

 S. L. Mosley. 



(Assisted by Contributors to the Y. N.) 

 9 BRASSICE, Linn. PI. 5, Fig. 2. 

 The Large White. 

 Brassice from the generic name of the food j 

 Dlants — the cabbage tribe Brassica. 



Imago. — (PI. 5, Fig. 2, male and female). 

 Male — forewing white with black tip, the 



'Ml 



:osta edged with dark scales. Hind wing j 

 .vhite, a black spot on the costa. Female 



similar, but with two black spots on the fore- 

 wings beyond the centre, and a black dash 

 on the inner margin. Underside greenish 

 yellow. 



Larva. — Yellowish green, with dark blue- 

 green mottlings on the back of every segment. 

 It is covered with fine short hairs. 



Pupa. — Very pale green, with darker spots 

 all over it. 



Pood Plants-— Plants of the Cabbage 

 tribe ; also Tropcelinm majus, or garden nastur- 

 tium. 



Times of Appearance.— Brassica does 



not emerge quite so soon as Napi and Rapce, 

 but is well out in May. The eggs are laid in 

 batches on the underside r f the leaves of the 

 food plant, and the iarvj : hatch in about 

 three weeks. They are gregarious at first, 

 and often remain together until they separate 

 to go into pupa. When a number of them 

 are on a cabbage they quickly destroy it, and 

 ina few daysthere will only be the thicker veins 

 of the outer leaves left. The second brood 

 emerges towards the end of July ; the warmer 

 weather of summer hatches the eggs in about 

 a fortnight, the larvae feed up rapidly, and 

 the pupae remain over the winter. 



Habitat- —Brassica is universally dis- 

 tributed in Britain, but, as already said with 

 respect to Rapa, it is commoner about the 

 suburbs of towns than in wild uncultivated 

 districts, as the food it prefers is more 

 abundant. It frequents gardens, lanes, &c., 

 in cultivated districts. On the Continent it 

 is only wanting in the Polar regions, and it is 

 also found throughout Asia, and in Northern 

 Africa. 



Variation. — Bras, ice is not a variable 

 species. There is said to be a difference in 

 the color of the tip in the spring and autumn 

 broods, that of the spring specimens being 

 called grey, and of the autumn specimens, 

 black. We believe both colors will be found 

 at either time. The largest and blackest 

 specimens we have, passed the winter in 

 pupa. Mr. Gregson has a male with the 

 veins lined with bright green. Mr. Plant, 



