SELECTION OF COLOUR 
595 
I have no manuscript note, but remember well that before 
Mr. Millar mentioned the fact of anacardii having a proclivity for 
such trees, I saw one take refuge in a shrub, or small tree, having 
large glaucous leaves; and I am almost sure that I beat another 
specimen out of the same kind of tree, but I failed to see the insect 
at rest. With these may be compared Mrs. Barber’s observation on 
the care exercised by Papilio dardanus, a d, in selecting a suitable 
resting-place. 1 
Writing of Colias philodice, Godart, Mr. W. H, Edwards says: 
“ On marigolds and brilliant single zinnias they delight to pasture, 
for they have a keen sense of colour. I have known one of them 
alight on an amethyst in a lady’s ring, after hovering about its owner 
so persistently as to attract attention, and it rested some seconds.” 2 
Mr. S. H. Scudder quotes the following interesting observations 
on the same butterfly, which is called in America the “ Sulphur.” 
“ Dr. Minot once observed that when searching for its honied 
food the butterfly most frequently alighted on yellow flowers; and 
Dr. Packard has recorded that in a field where white asters and 
yellow golden rods were abundant the yellow sulphur butterfly 
visited the flowers of the golden rod much oftener than those of the 
aster, while the opposite was the case with Pieris rapae” 3 Again, 
in another place, he says, “ and Jenner Weir has noticed how the 
white butterflies settled on the variegated leaves in his garden.” 4 
The preference shown by the two butterflies for golden rod and 
asters respectively is interesting. These genera, highly characteristic 
of North America, are closely allied Compositae. On the other hand, 
P, rapae was introduced into the country in 1860 or thereabouts. 
Some of Dr. Dixey’s notes of his observations on common English 
butterflies have a bearing upon the point under discussion. 
July 12th, Mortehoe. Watched G. hrassicae , #, resting on a 
bramble flower; wings closed so that the tip was the only 
part of fore-wing visible. 
August 12th. Mortehoe. Saw G. rapae , d, settled, towards 
dusk (nearly 8.0 p.m.), on a bramble leaf in a hedge. Wings 
vertical. On left side none of fore-wing showing but bare 
apex. On right side a large part of fore-wing showing. On 
1 Trimen, “ South African Butterflies,” vol. iii. p. 254. Quoted by Marshall, 
Trans. Ent. Soc. Land., 1908, p. 122. See also Dixey, Proc . Ent. Soc. Lond., 1906, 
pp. xxviii., xxix. 
2 “ Butterflies of North America,” vol. ii., 1897, subphilodice (not paged). 
3 “ Butterflies of New England,” 1889, vol. ii. p. 1124. 
4 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 1102. 
