This subfamily is very large, and is enormously developed in the tropics of both hemispheres. Some of the genera are very widely distributed in temperate regions, especially the genera Pieris and Colias.

Genus DISMORPHIA, Hübner

"I saw him run after a gilded butterfly; and when he caught it, he let it go again; and after it again; and over and over he comes, and up again; catched it again." SHAKESPEARE, Coriolanus.

Butterfly.-The butterflies are medium sized, varying much in the form of wing, in some species greatly resembling other Pierinæ in outline, but more frequently resembling the Ithomiid and Heliconiid butterflies, which they mimic. Some of them represent transitional forms between the

type commonly represented in the genus Pieris and the forms found in the two above-mentioned protected groups. The eyes are not prominent. The palpi are quite small. The basal joint is long, the middle joint oval, and the third joint small, oval, or slightly club-shaped. The antennæ are long, thin, terminating in a gradually enlarged spindle-shaped club; the fore wings being sometimes oval, more frequently elongated, twice, or even three times, as long as broad, especially in the male sex; the apex pointed, falcate, or rounded. The cell is long and narrow. The first subcostal vein varies as to location, rising either before or after the end of the cell, and, in numerous cases, coalescing with the costal vein, as is shown in the cut.

FIG. 138.-Neuration of the genus Dismorphia.

Early Stages. Of the early stages of these interesting insects we have no satisfactory knowledge.

The species of the genus belong exclusively to the tropical regions of the New World. There are about a hundred species which have already been named and described, and undoubtedly there are many more which remain to be discovered. These insects can always be distinguished from the protected genera which they mimic by the possession of six well-developed ambulatory feet in both sexes, the protected genera being possessed of only four feet adapted to walking.

(1) Dismorphia melite, Linnæus, Plate XXXVII, Fig. 17, 8; Fig. 18, (The Mime).

Butterfly. The figures in the plate make a description of the upper side unnecessary. On the under side the wings of the male are shining white, except the costa, which is evenly dull ochreous from the base to the apex. The hind wings are ochreous, mottled with pale brown. The female, on the under side, has the fore wings very pale yellow, with the black spots of the upper side reproduced; the hind wings are deeper yellow, mottled with pale-brown spots and crossed by a moderately broad transverse pale-brown band of the same color.

Early Stages.-Unknown.

The species is credited to our fauna on the authority of Reakirt. It is abundant in Mexico. It mimics certain forms of Ithomiina.

Genus NEOPHASIA, Behr

"It was an hour of universal joy.

The lark was up and at the gate of heaven,
Singing, as sure to enter when he came;
The butterfly was basking in my path,
His radiant wings unfolded."

ROGERS.

Butterfly.-Medium sized, white in color, more nearly related in the structure of its wings to the European genus Aporia than to any other of the American pieridine genera. The upper radial is lacking, and the subcostal is provided with five branches, the first emitted well before the end of the cell; the second likewise emitted before the end of the cell and terminating at the apex; the third, fourth, and fifth rising from a common stalk at the outer upper angle of the cell.

Early Stages.-The egg is flask-shaped, fluted on the sides, recalling the shape of the "pearltop" lamp-chimney. The caterpillar, in its mature form, is about an inch long. The body is cylindriration of the genus cal, terminating in two short anal tails. The color is dark green, with a broad white band on each side, and a narrow band of white on the back. The feet are black, and the prolegs greenish-yellow. The chrysalis is dark green, striped

FIG. 139.-Neu

Neophasia.

with white, resembling the chrysalids of the genus Colias, but somewhat more slender. The caterpillar feeds upon conifers. But one species is known.

(1) Neophasia menapia, Felder, Plate XXXIV, Fig. 7, 8 (The Pine White).

Butterfly. The insect on the under side sometimes has the outer margin of the secondaries marked with spots of bright pinkish-red, resembling in this style of coloration certain species of the genus Delias of the Indo-Malayan fauna.

Early Stages. These have been thoroughly described by Edwards in his third volume. The caterpillar infests the pine-trees and firs of the northern Pacific States. The larva lets itself down by a silken thread, often a hundred feet in length, and pupates on the ferns and shrubbery at the foot of the trees. It sometimes works great damage to the pine woods.

Genus TACHYRIS, Wallace

"The virtuoso thus, at noon,

Broiling beneath a July sun,

The gilded butterfly pursues

O'er hedge and ditch, through gaps and mews;

And, after many a vain essay

To captivate the tempting prey,
Gives him at length the lucky pat,
And has him safe beneath his hat;
Then lifts it gently from the ground;
But, ah! 't is lost as soon as found.
Culprit his liberty regains,

Flits out of sight, and mocks his pains."

Cowper.

This genus, which includes about seventy species, may be distinguished from all other genera belonging to the Pierina by the two stiff brush-like clusters of hairs which are found in the male sex attached to the abdominal clasps. All of the species belonging to the genus are found in the Old World, with exception. of the species described in this book, which has a wide range throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the New World. The peculiarities of neuration are well shown in the accompanying cut, in which the hind wing has been somewhat unduly magnified in proportion to the fore wing.

Early Stages.-The life-history of our species has not been thoroughly studied, but we have ascertained enough of the early

stages of various species found in the tropics of the Old World to know that there is a very close relationship between this genus and that which follows in our classification.

FIG. 140.-Neuration of the genus Tachyris. Hind wing relatively enlarged.

(1) Tachyris ilaire, Godart, Plate XXXV, Fig. 4, 3; Fig. 5, 9 (The Florida White).

Butterfly.-The hind wings of the male on the under side, which is not shown in the plate, are very pale saffron. The under side of the wings in the female is pearlywhite, marked with bright orange-yellow at the base of the primaries. A melanic form of the female sometimes occurs in which the wings are almost wholly dull blackish on both sides.

Early Stages. We know, as yet, but little of these.

The insect is universally abundant in the tropics of America, and occurs in

southern Florida.

Genus PIERIS, Schrank

(The Whites)

"And there, like a dream in a swoon, I swear

I saw Pan lying,-his limbs in the dew

And the shade, and his face in the dazzle and glare

Of the glad sunshine; while everywhere,

Over, across, and around him blew

Filmy dragon-flies hither and there,

And little white butterflies, two and two,

In eddies of odorous air."

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.

Butterfly.-Medium-sized butterflies, white in color, marked in many species on both the upper and under sides with dark brown. The antennæ are distinctly clubbed, moderate in length. The palpi are short, delicate, compressed, with the terminal joint quite short and pointed. The subcostal vein of the primaries has four branches, the first subcostal arising before the end of the cell, the second at its upper outer angle, and the third and fourth from a common stem emitted at the same point. The outer margin of