INJURIOUS TO CABBAGE AND RELATED CROPS 15 



l)ag(> worm and ha\'e an especial fondness for the tender central 

 leaves and forming head, often burrowing into the latter. In 

 addition to cabbage and related crops, this insect has been 

 reported as feeding on nasturtium in California. 



The insect hibernates in the pupal stage in a snug cocoon 

 just below the surface of the ground. The moths emerge in 

 early spring — in April in the District of Columbia. The 

 moth (Fig. 16) has an expanse of about an inch. The front 

 wangs are pale ocher-yellow in color, marked with an indistinct 

 zigzag brownish line and suffused with various shades of brown, 

 darker towards the middle of the outer margin. The hind wings 

 are nearly transparent towards the 

 base, fuscous at the front angle and 

 marked across the disk with a row 

 of five or six small indistinct dusky 

 spots. The female moth deposits 

 her light yellow, rounded oval eggs 

 about 1^ inch in diameter, in cir- 

 cular masses on the underside of Fig. ig. — The moth of the 



,11 T7 u cross-striped cabbage worm 



the leaves. Each egg-mass con- (x i^). 

 tains twenty to thirty eggs w^hich 



are flattened and overlap. They are semi-transparent and 

 the green of the leaf shows through the mass. The eggs 

 hatch in about six days and the young caterpillars begin 

 feeding on the leaves, eating out long oval holes. The 

 newly hatched larva is of a nearly uniform gray color. 

 When full-grown it is about -fu i^^ch in length, bluish gray 

 above with distinct transverse black stripes, three or more to 

 each segment. On the side a wide stigmatal line of bright 

 yellow^ extends from the second to the last segment. Beneath, 

 the caterpillar is green mottled with yellowish. In the summer 

 the caterpillars reach maturity in about a month, but in the 

 cooler months a somewhat longer period is required. When full- 

 grown the caterpillar descends to the ground and just below 



