Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Foreign Butterflies.djvu/124

110 PIERIS.

to the definition which it has been found necessary to give to this genus in general works on the lepidoptera, it includes a very extensive range of species, and may be said to be represented in this country by the white butterflies, which British authors generally place in the genus Pontia. In this extended acceptation, however, it comprehends individuals somewhat diversified in appearance, and which may be assumed as the types of particular groups or sub-divisions, perhaps of sufficient importance ultimately to become genera, if a corresponding dissimilarity be found to characterise their different states and metamorphoses. The antennæ are of moderate length or slightly elongated, the articulations pretty distinct, the club obconic and compressed; palpi thickly covered with fascicles of long hairs, the terminal joint at least as long as the penultimate: wings of ordinary size, the discoidal cell closed; the under pair partially embracing the abdomen: eyes naked, head rather small.

The caterpillar is elongated, and nearly cylindrical, pubescent, and marked with longitudinal rays; the head small and rounded. Chrysalis terminating in a single conical point anteriorly, attached by the tail and a medial band.