THE GREEN-VEINED WHITE 
3 ii 
n 
/ 
Seasonal Variation. In the spring brood the apical blotch 
and central spot of the fore wing are usually much reduced in 
size, and generally the apex is grey ; occasionally the apex and 
middle of the wing is spotless. The costal spot on the hind 
wing is also smaller. But, in addition, in the same brood 
the female is liable to occur with darker nervures and with 
the spots much enlarged, also the whole surface is . dusted 
with grey, giving a generally 
dusky appearance to the 
insect. 
In the summer brood all 
the markings are much 
larger and darker, and 
sometimes the male has an 
additional spot in the fore 
wing, corresponding to that 
in the female. The females 
are frequently very heavily 
marked, and the spots are 
occasionally united by a 
suffusion of black scales, 
producing a black sub¬ 
median band ; this form is 
ab. subellicae. Also in the 
hind wing a black spot be¬ 
tween the third and fourth 
nervures is fairly frequent. 
The veining on the under 
side is much less developed 
and is occasionally almost 
obliterated. 
Life of Imago. This com¬ 
mon butterfly is comparatively short-lived, between fifteen 
and twenty days being its normal period. 
Aberration. There is no British butterfly more liable to 
vary in both ground colour and markings than the Green- 
veined White. It ranges from pure white, through various 
shades of yellow, to pale drab ; which colour is confined to 
the Alpine form of the female known as ab. bryoniae. The 
markings are equally variable in both depth of shade and 
The Green-veined White (1, Gy nan- 
drous ab. citronea ; 2, Gynandromorphic 
and dimorphic). 
