Volume 10, Plate XI / Entomology (Insects)

Apollo & Black-Veined White, or Hawthorn Butterflies

Parnassius Apollo & Pieris Cratægi

1. Apollo Butterfly. Its wings, nearly three inches across, are white tinged with yellow, the fore pair bearing five black spots and the hind pair two large crimson, white-pupilled eyes, the tips transparent as if varnished. Its velvet-black caterpillar, spotted with orange, feeds on orpine and saxifrage; never truly proven British, the insect inhabits the Alps and the mountains of Scandinavia, where its flight is slow and heavy.
2. Black-Veined White, or Hawthorn Butterfly. About the size of the common cabbage white, this unmistakable species has semitransparent white wings with black nervures and a black-lined edge, both surfaces nearly alike. Its caterpillars, striped with reddish-brown, live gregariously under a silken web and feed on hawthorn and fruit-trees, sometimes damaging orchards; unknown in Scotland, it occurs locally in southern England and abundantly abroad.