Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes
Published Date:
25 July 2008
MEET more of the Brown family. Last week I introduced the speckled woods. Here is another member of the tribe: the marbled white.
It isn't very brown, being mostly white. But the Browns are a huge family with many different cousins varying between white, black, and brown.
Our ancestors just couldn't understand what the marbled white was up to. Why wasn't it white like all the 'cabbage' whites (except for their wing tips)?
Nor was it all over brown like all the normal Brown family.
So it was known as the 'Half- mourner' in 1717. Half is mourning and half is glad tidings.
People were puzzled by it – well, those few who ever noticed insects.
Other names were the Marmoris or Marmoress. Marbled whites have been steadily increasing over the past 20 years and it is no longer uncommon to see one in the long grass of the Downs in June and July.
For full feature see West Sussex Gazette July 30
The full article contains 166 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
-
Last Updated:
25 July 2008 2:47 PM
-
Source:
n/a
-
Location:
Chichester
