The Descent of Man

As Mr. Walsh has remarked to me, the females
of our orange-tip butterfly, above referred to,
and of an American species (Anth. genutia)
probably shew us the primordial colours of the
parent-species of the genus; for both sexes of
four or five widely-distributed species are coloured
in nearly the same manner. As in several
previous cases, we may here infer that it is the
males of Anth. cardamines and genutia which
have departed from the usual type of the genus.
In the Anth. sara from California, the
orange- tips to the wings have been partially
developed in the female; but they are paler
than in the male, and slightly different in some
other respects. In an allied Indian form, the
Iphias glaucippe, the orange-tips are fully developed
in both sexes. In this Iphias, as pointed
out to me by Mr. A. Butler, the under surface of
the wings marvellously resembles a pale- coloured
leaf; and in our English orange-tip, the
under surface resembles the flower-head of the
wild parsley, on which the butterfly often rests