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
This species seems to range over the whole of the British Islands, with
the exception, perhaps, of the Shetlands. Abroad, it has been found in
all parts of the Palæarctic Region, except the extreme north, and
Eastern Asia.
The Small White (_Pieris rapæ_).
The Small White butterfly (Plate 11) is, perhaps, more often in
evidence then its larger kinsman just referred to. It also is a migrant,
and although it never seems to be absent from these islands, in its
proper season, its great increase in numbers in some years is almost
certainly due to the arrival of immigrants.
The spring form of this butterfly, named _metra_ by Stephens, who,
together with others, considered it a good species, has the tips of the
fore wings only slightly clouded with black; and the black spots near
the centre of the wings are always more or less faint in the male.
Sometimes the central spot and also the blackish clouding of the tip are
entirely absent. The summer brood, on the other hand, has fairly
blackish tips and distinct black spots--one in the male and three in the
female, the lower one lying on the inner margin. Occasionally examples
of this flight bear a strong resemblance to the Green-veined White, the
next species. The wings are sometimes, chiefly in Ireland, of a creamy
colour, more especially in the female, or, more rarely, of a yellowish
tint. In North America, where this species was accidentally or
intentionally introduced some years ago, bright yellow forms are not
uncommon in some localities, and the variety is there known as
_novangliæ_.
In certain favourable years a partial third brood has occurred, but such
specimens are often small in size.
The egg (Plate 8) is at first pale greenish, but later on it turns
yellowish, and this tint it retains until just before the caterpillar
hatches out.
The caterpillar when full-grown has a brownish head and a green body;
the latter is sprinkled with black and clothed with short blackish hairs
emitted from pale warts. There is a yellowish line on the back, and a
line formed of yellow spots on the side. It feeds on most plants of the
cabbage tribe, and in flower gardens on mignonette and nasturtiums. It
is often attacked by parasites, and especially by the _Apanteles_,
referred to as destructive to caterpillars of the Large White.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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