Zoological Illustrations/VolI-Pl52
COLIAS argante.
Orange Colias.
Generic Character.—See Pl. 5.
Specific Character.
- C. (Mas.) alis aurantiis, suprà immaculatis, posticis subtùs atomis ferrugineis, plerumque puncto gemino argenteo.
- C. (Fœm.) alis aurantio-flavis, anticis suprà, apice punctoque medio atris; posticis subtùs, puncto gemino argenteo atomisque ferrugineis.
- C. (Male.) Wings bright-orange, above immaculate; posterior beneath with minute ferruginous dots, and generally two silvery spots.
- C. (Female.) Wings golden-yellow; anterior above with a central spot and black marginal tip; posterior beneath covered with ferruginous dots and two silvery spots.
| (Male.) | Papilio Hersilia. Cramer, pl. 173. C. D. ——— argante. Fab. Ent. Syst. iii. pt. 1. p. 189. |
| (Female.) | Papilio Cipris. Cramer, pl. 99. E. F. Colias Cnidia. Godart, 93. no. 14. |
No two insects can present a more striking dissimilarity than the sexes of this species; and it was only after a considerable degree of attention to the subject, in their native climate, that we were at last thoroughly convinced that Colias argante and C. Cnidia were, without the least remaining doubt, the male and the female of one species. I have had the same opinion communicated to me by my friend Dr. Langsdorff, whose long residence and observations in Brazil render his opinion of no small authority.
As both insects are well known, and their distinctions given in the specific character, it will be only necessary to observe, that the under surfaces of the wings in both sexes vary much both in the density of the minute dots, and short undulated stripes that spread over their surface; and that the silvery spots in some males are strongly marked, and in others quite obsolete: there is, in very fine individuals of this sex, a faint bloom of pink spread on the orange of the upper surface, which heightens the vivid yet chaste beauty of the insect. The females are not so common. I met with them both in northern and southern Brazil, and have seen them in collections from Parà directly under the equinoctial line.