Pieris oleracea

[Mark Walker]

5/1/98

Well, another beautiful day in the NE U.S.  I took a nice walk in the Green
Mountains (Addison Co.) at lunch time today.  Temperature was well above 75
degrees F.

To my surprise, there were many Mustard Whites flying up at higher altitude.
I've seen their cousins, Pieris virginiensis, flying in May but I had not
seen P. oleracea before and didn't expect to see them so early.  They are
the spring form, with much green veining on the underside.  Very nice.

It's odd to me that the butterfly is so scarce when you are in the forest,
but can be readily found patrolling the artificially cleared areas (along
the road, etc..).  Is this not a native to the NE?

The only other species sighted were many Celastrina lucia and one
unidentified anglewing.

Mark Walker
Castleton, VT.