Butterfly.—Large butterflies, brilliant lemon-yellow or orange-yellow, marked with a few darker spots and with a narrow band of brown, especially in the female sex, on the outer margin of the primaries. They are very quick and vigorous in flight, more so than is the case in any of the preceding genera.
Egg.—The eggs are spindle-shaped, flat at the base, and acutely pointed, with a few longitudinal ribs and a multitude of delicate cross-lines.
Caterpillar.—The caterpillar is relatively long, with the head small; the segments somewhat moniliform, resembling beads strung together, the surface covered with a multitude of minute papillæ ranged in transverse rows.
Chrysalis.—The chrysalis is strongly concave on the dorsal side, with the head greatly produced as a long, pointed, conical projection; the wing-cases are compressed and form a very wide, keel-shaped projection on the ventral side. This peculiar formation of the wing-cases reaches its greatest development in this genus.
The butterflies of this genus are mainly tropical. Four or five species, however, are found in the warmer parts of the United States, and one of them ranges north as far as northern New Jersey, and has been occasionally taken even in northern Illinois.
[a]Fig. 144.]—Neuration of the genus Catopsilia.
(1) Catopsilia eubule, Linnæus, Plate XXXIII, Fig. 2, ♂; Fig. 3, ♂, under side; Plate II, Figs. 2, 4, larva; Plate V, Figs. 60-62, chrysalis (The Cloudless Sulphur).
Butterfly.—This splendid and vigorous butterfly is found from New England and Wisconsin to Patagonia, being very abundant in the tropics, where it congregates in great swarms upon moist places by the side of streams. It haunts in great numbers the orange-groves of the South, and is very fond of flowers. It is rare on the northern limits of its range, though quite common on the coast of New Jersey. Expanse, 2.50 inches. The caterpillar feeds on leguminous plants, but especially upon the different species of Cassia.
(2) Catopsilia philea, Linnæus, Plate XXXIII, Fig. 4, ♂ (The Red-barred Sulphur).