Genus IPHIAS, Boisd.
The two conspicuous insects which at present compose this genus, were wont to be referred either to Pieris or Colias. They have certainly a close relation to both, as well as to Anthocharis, but the following characters seem to warrant their separation; antennæ long, gradually increasing into a club which is truncated at the extremity; palpi contiguous and compressed, thickly covered with scales cut of equal length, the terminal joint minute and truncated; head clothed with rather long projecting scaly hairs; thorax robust; abdomen much shorter than the inferior wings; wings very large and strong, the discoidal cell closed. The caterpillar is attenuated at both extremities and shagreened on the surface, the chrysalis much arched and fusiform at both ends.
IPHIAS LEUCIPPE.
PLATE VII. Fig. 3.
Pap. Leucippe, Fabr. Cramer, Pl. 36, fig. A, B, C.—Donovan, Insects of India.—Pieris Leucippe, Godart.
One of the largest of the Pierides, frequently measuring upwards of four inches between the tips of the wings; anterior pair bright fulvous red, clouded at the base with greenish yellow, the nervures and all the exterior parts black, the female with a row of fulvous spots parallel with the external margin, and not far from it; posterior wings citron-yellow, having a dentated or macular black border in the female, usually preceded by a curved line of spots of the same colour; but in the male marked with only one or two black spots towards the external border. Under side deep fulvous in both sexes, sprinkled with black points and marked with short transverse dusky lines, which are greatly most numerous in the female; head and thorax brown; abdomen citron-yellow; antennæ black, the extremity of the club reddish.
It is a native of Amboina; we have seen no particular account of the caterpillar, but it is no doubt similar to that of T. Glaucippe, which is described by Dr. Horsfield as of a green colour with a white lateral ray. It feeds on a species of Capparis.
Genus CALLIDRYAS.
This genus is composed of a selection of species from Colias, to which it bears a very close relation. It is not long since it was proposed by Dr Boisduval, who thinks that the following characters entitle it to this distinction. Palpi approximating and very much compressed, clothed with short hairs and dense scales, the terminal joint conical and much shorter than the preceding one; antennæ thickening gradually from the base to the apex, which is distinctly truncated; body robust, the abdomen much shorter than the inferior wings; the latter forming a groove which completely embraces the under side of the abdomen. The caterpillars are naked and somewhat attenuated at both extremities; the chrysalis arched, or boat shaped, with the extremities drawn out to a narrow point; always attached by the tail and a transverse band.
According to the manner in which they have been respectively constituted, Callidryas therefore is best distinguished from Colias by the antennæ, which in the latter terminate in an obconical club; and from Rhodocera (including Gonopteryx of Dr. Leach), which has these organs likewise truncated, by the shape of the wings, which never present acute angular projections. The prevailing colour of the species is yellow, from deep orange to the palest sulphur yellow. The females are usually of a paler hue than the males, and the sexual differences are strongly marked in other particulars. On the under side of the wings there are almost invariably one or two small spots, near the middle, of a silvery or rusty-brown hue; these are either wanting or very minute in the males, while they are distinctly marked in the females. The former sex, in the majority of species, presents a very peculiar character in having the anterior edge of the under wings provided with a kind of pulverulent glandular sac, which varies much in size and colour in different species.