The Wood White (Leucophasia sinapis).
The graceful little butterfly figured on Plate [19] is creamy white, with a rather square black or blackish spot on the tip of the fore wings of the male. In the female the spot is reduced to some blackish scales on and between the veins. Occasionally there is a second brood in the year, and the specimens of this flight have smaller and rounder black spots in the males, and almost none at all in the females. Specimens of the female sex entirely devoid of black marking are referable to var. erysimi (see fourth figure in second row, Plate [16]). Series of each brood are shown on Plate [16,] which is reproduced from a photograph by Mr. Hamm. The lower specimen in each series has been reversed to show the seasonal variation of the under side. The row of specimens on the left are of the first brood, and the second and last examples in this series show the characters of var. lathyri—black tips to the fore wings, and dusky band-like shades on the hind wings; the under sides of the hind wings dull greenish—to which form a good many of our spring specimens belong. The specimens of the second generation are referable to var. diniensis. The species is sometimes referred to Leptosia, Hüb.
The egg, which is figured on Plate [18], is yellowish-white in colour; it is ribbed, and rather glassy in appearance. The caterpillars have been known to hatch out about a week after the eggs were laid.
Larger Image
Pl. 16.
Wood White Butterfly.