THE CABBAGE BUTTERFLIES. 293 



or two to its lower surface. If we examine tlie spot 

 on whicli tlie insect has been staying, we shall find a 

 little group of small yellowish bodies, exactly resem- 

 bling the fluted sugar-loaves which we often see in 

 grocers^ windows. These stand, like the sugar-loaves, 

 upon their broadest end, and are the eggs of the But- 

 terfly. They remain without alteration for a few days, 

 when the little caterpillars break out of them and 

 proceed to their work of destruction upon the tender 

 leaves of the cabbage. They eat voraciously, soon 

 piercing the parenchyma of the leaves with a thousand 

 holes, and often, when they are present in great imm- 

 bers, completely destroying nearly the whole crop of 

 oleraceous plants (such as cabbages, cauliflowers, broc- 

 coli, &c.) in a garden, and rendering the plants dis- 

 gusting by the quantity of their excrements. After 

 a few weeks spent in this way, during which they 

 change their skins three times, the caterpillars quit 

 the cabbages and proceed in search of a suitable 

 position in which to pass to the pupa state. For 

 this purpose they generally select sheltered spots in 

 palings, the interior of sheds and outhouses, or the 

 lower surface of projections on the exterior of houses. 

 In the latter case, on arriving at the bottom of the wall 

 they seem to crawl up in a straight line until they meet 

 with a convenient spot, for I have often seen them 

 nearly at the top of the house, past all the window 

 sills, and evidently making for the under side of the 

 gutter ; and when they happen to take the line of the 

 windows, they do not move to one side to avoid them, 

 but creep straight on up the glass. This, however, is 

 an arduous undertaking, for the feet of the caterpillars 

 cannot adhere with sufiicient firmness to the smooth 

 surface of the glass to allow them to walk, and they 



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