THE LARGE WHITE BUTTERFLY. 



503 



From the beginning to nearly the end of June, they lead a solitarTf 

 life. Their social disposition is no longer felt. Each of them spina 

 a pod of coarse brownish silk. In a few days they are changed into 

 chrysalids, and in eighteen or twenty days more they are transformed 

 into butterflies. 



OF THE BUTTERFLIES IN GENERAL. 



The antennae of these insects are thicker towards the tip than in 

 any other part, and generally 

 end la a knob. The wings, 

 when at rest, are erect, the 

 upper edges meeting together 

 over the body. They are 

 all diurnal animals. 



These elegant insects feed 

 on the nectar of flowers, and 

 on the moisture which exudes 

 from plants and trees, which 

 they extract by means of 

 their long proboscis or ton- 

 gue. Their caterpillars are 

 sometimes smooth, and some- 

 times thickly covered with 

 hair; and their chrysalids 

 are naked, and attached, 

 apparently in a lifeless state, 

 to trees, or other substances, by filaments proceeding either from the 

 tip or the midle of their bodies. 



IBE CHR'BALIDB OF BUTTERFLIES. 



THE LARGE WHITE BUTTERFLY. 



This is a common species, and, in its caterpillar state, is often very 

 destructive to our cabbage and cauliflower 

 plants. The caterpillars seem almost con- 

 fined to these vegetables, on which they 

 are generally to be found in great numbers 

 from June to October. The Butterflies first 

 appear on wing in the middle of May, and, 

 about the end of the same month, they lay 

 their eggs in clusters on the under sides of 

 cabbage-leaves. In a few days the caterpil- 

 lars come forth, and continue to feed together till the end of June, wnen 

 they are at their full growth. They then traverse about in search of 

 some convenient place to fix themselves, where, after their change, 

 the chrysalids may be sheltered. When such are found, they each 

 fasten their tail by a web, and carry a strong thread of the same round 



THE LARGE WHITE BCTTERFLT. 



