The Butterflies of the British IslesSouth, Richard
Science
The Butterflies of the British Isles
South, Richard
Butterflies -- Great Britain; Butterflies -- Great Britain -- Identification; Lepidoptera -- Great Britain
During the last twenty-five years or so, the butterfly has been seen on
the wing, from time to time, in various parts of the Southern and
Midland counties. Caterpillars have also been found at large in Kent.
Possibly attempts may have been made to establish the species in certain
parts of England, and the presence of odd specimens in strange places
may thus be accounted for. Or such butterflies may have escaped from
some one who had reared them.
On the Continent the butterfly is common in woods as well as in meadows,
and even on mountains up to an elevation of 5000 feet. It occurs also,
but less commonly, at much higher altitudes. It therefore seems strange
that in England it should be confined to the low-lying fens of Norfolk
and Cambridgeshire. Such is the case, however, and a journey to one or
other of its localities will have to be made by those who wish to see
this beautiful creature in its English home.
It may be added that the geographical range of the butterfly extends
eastwards through Asia as far as Japan. A form, known as the Alaskan
Swallow-tail, is found in Alaska.
* * * * *
The following ten species belong to the Pierinæ, another sub-family of
Papilionidæ.
The Black-veined White (_Aporia cratægi_).
The Black-veined White (Plate 4) may be at once recognized by its
roundish white wings and their conspicuous veins, which latter are black
in the male butterfly, and in the female brownish on the main ones
(nervures) and black on the branches (nervules). As the scales on the
wings are denser in the male than in the female, the former always
appears to be the whiter insect. On the outer margin of the fore wings
there are more or less triangular patches of dusky scales, and these in
occasional specimens are so large that their edges almost or quite meet,
and so form an irregular, dusky border to the fore wings. These patches
are also present on the hind wings, but are not so well defined.
Sometimes the patches are absent from all the wings. The fringes of the
wings are so short that they appear to be wanting altogether. The early
stages are figured on Plate 3.
The egg is upright and ribbed from about the middle to the curiously
ornamented top, which appears to be furnished with a sort of coronet.
The colour is at first honey-yellow, then darker yellow, and just before
the caterpillar hatches, greyish. The eggs are laid in a cluster on the
upper side of a leaf of sloe, hawthorn, or plum, etc., in the month of
July.
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