Zoological Illustrations Series II/Plate 74



Nature has so completely disguised this Butterfly in the form and colours of a genuine Papilio, as to have deceived the first entomologist now in Europe, and his most skilful and accurate coadjutator. In the ''Ency. Methodique we find this species recorded as a Papilio; whereas it perfectly agrees, in all the details of its structure, with the characters proposed in that valuable work for the genus Pieris''. Whether nature has employed this beautiful device to indicate the group which next succeeds in her series, or whether she has intended it to point out a strong analogy, are questions which, in our present imperfect knowledge of Lepidopterous groups, cannot be answered.

Of this group we possess several new and highly interesting species. It is worthy of remark, that they were all collected in one particular locality, and at the same season. This was during a short residence at Mandioca, the plantation of Dr. Langsdorff, among the woods at the base of the Organ mountains, near Rio de Janeiro.

We believe this group is restricted to tropical America, where it probably represents the genuine Pieres, (as defined at pl. 69,) of the Old World. The present species is subject to much variation in the size, proportion, and colour of its spots: the white is sometimes pale yellow, and the rosy becomes of a deeper and brighter hue.