Tertiaries of Aix, Provence, France. Collection of Count de Saporta.
_Pierites_ HEER, Insekt. Tert. Œning., ii, 182; IB., Nouv. Mem. Soc. Helv., xi, 182; GIEB., Faun. der Vorw., ii, 187.
Fore wings fully three-quarters as long again as broad, the costal margin slightly convex at the basal and apical fifth, scarcely bent at an angle with the nearly straight middle portion, the outer angle abrupt but softened. Outer margin nearly straight and inclined at an angle of forty-five degrees with the middle portion of the costal border, above the middle subcostal nervule receding slightly in a gentle curve. Inner margin straight, the outer angle well rounded. Costal nervure terminating a little beyond the middle of the margin. Subcostal nervure with three superior branches; the first arising shortly before the middle of the outer half of the cell, a little nearer the apex of the cell in the female than in the male; the second arising scarcely (male), or a very little (female), beyond the tip of the cell; the third emitted at about two-fifths the distance from the apex of the cell to the outer margin, forked at the extreme tip in the male. Cell half as long as the wing and nearly four times as long as broad.
The butterflies are scarcely larger than those of the genus Pieris, but have more pointed fore wings; like them they are white, but extensively spotted with deep brown; the fore wings have a broad bar at the tip of the cell, and midway between this and the outer border a widely interrupted transverse series of similar but smaller spots; the outer border, especially the upper half, is also more or less distinctly margined with triangular, frequently confluent spots seated in the interspaces; these occur more often in the female than in the male.
The characters given above are drawn wholly from recent species of the genus.
_Pierites Freyeri_ HEER, Insekt. Tert. Œning., ii, 182-83, Taf. 14, fig. 6 (1849); IB., Nouv. Mem. Soc. Helv., xi, 182-83, Taf. 14, fig. 6 (1850); GIEB., Deutschl. Petref., 644 (1852); IB., Faun. der Vorw., ii, 187 (1856); KIRB., Syn. Cat. Diurn. Lep., 509 (1871).
The original description of this insect we owe to Heer; it is as follows:[AE]—
Alis anterioribus lividis, margine maculisque duabus nigris.