Two city fathers were standing in the market-place beside a pile of cabbages. A naturalist, who was their friend, came by. As he approached, a cabbage-butterfly, fluttering about the place lit on the straw hat of one of the dignitaries. The naturalist, accosting him, said: "Friend, do you know what rests upon your head?" "No," said he. "A butterfly." "Well," said he, "that brings good luck." "Yes," replied the naturalist; "and the insect reveals to me the wonderful instinct with which nature has provided it." "How is that?" quoth the city father. "It is a cabbage-butterfly that rests upon your head." Genus NATHALIS, Boisduval "The butterflies, gay triflers Who in the sunlight sport." HEINE. _Butterfly._--The butterfly is very small, yellow, margined with black. The upper radial vein in the fore wing is wanting. The subcostal has four nervules, the third and fourth rising from a common stalk emitted from the upper outer corner of the cell, the first and second from before the end of the cell. The precostal vein on the hind wing is reduced to a small swelling beyond the base. The palpi are slender; the third joint long and curved; the second joint oval; the third fine, spindle-shaped, and pointed. The antennæ are rather short, with a somewhat thick and abruptly developed club. [Illustration FIG. 142.--Neuration of the genus _Nathalis_, enlarged.] _Early Stages._--Very little is known of these. Three species belong to this genus, which is confined to the subtropical regions of the New World, one species only invading the region of which this volume treats. (1) =Nathalis iole=, Boisduval, Plate XXXII, Fig. 21, ♂; Fig. 22, ♀ (The Dwarf Yellow). _Butterfly._--This little species, which cannot be mistaken, and which requires no description, as the plate conveys more information concerning it than could be given in mere words, ranges from southern Illinois and Missouri to Arizona and southern California. Its life-history has not yet been described. Expanse, 1.00-1.25 inch. The identification of this species with _N. felicia_, Poey, which is found in Cuba, is doubtfully correct. The two species are very closely allied, but, nevertheless, distinct from each other. Genus EUCHLOË, Hübner (=Anthocharis= _of authors_) (The Orange-tips) "When daffodils begin to peer, With, heigh! the doxy over the dale, Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year; For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale." SHAKESPEARE. _Butterfly._--Small butterflies, white in color, with the apical region of the primaries dark brown, marked with spots and bands of yellowish-orange or crimson. On the under side the wings are generally more or less profusely mottled with green spots and striæ. [Illustration FIG. 143.--Neuration of the genus _Euchloë_]. _Egg._--Spindle-shaped (see p. 4, Fig. 6), laterally marked with raised vertical ridges, between which are finer cross-lines.