1198 THE I5LTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



town of Dublin it was found common enough by the lute Rev. Mr. Leonard. 

 Possil)ly tliis may depend wholly upon mere annual variation ; thus, Mr. 

 Lintner, writing in 1864, says that in Schoharie, N. Y. "it was extremely 

 rare until recently", and previous to 1857 "he had taken it but once in three 

 years ; while at present it ranks next to philodice" ; later, however, he 

 writes : that "for the last few years it has not been at all abundant at Scho- 

 harie, in marked contrast with some former years" ; and Mr. Bacon of Na- 

 tiek, Mass., says that the insect by no means disturbs cabbages and turnips 

 as it did fifteen or eighteen vears ago. 



The preceding paragraph is left as it was written many years ago at 

 about the time that P. rapae first invaded Xew England. The story of 

 the abundance and probably the distribution of P. oleracea would now be 

 a very different one, for the invader has nearly exterminated the indigen- 

 ous species. I recollect once seeing the college yard in Cambridge — I 

 think it was about 1857 — fairly swarming with P. oleracea. It is now 

 never found to my knowledge anywhere in the region about Boston and I 

 think it is wholly confined to the less cidtivated and especially the hilly 

 districts of New England. I should be surprised to meet it elsewhere ; 

 and even in the recesses of the White Mountains I have never in recent 

 years seen it at all abundant, or so common as P. rapae. Formerly 

 it occurred in profusion about Portland ; Lyman reports it as very 

 scarce in the six years following the advent of P. rapae.' Mr. Lintner 

 writes me that he was surprised to find oleracea quite common in August 

 1887, at Lake Pleasant in the Adirondacks, having rarely met with it 

 since rapae was introduced ; its numbers, however, were even then only 

 half those of rapae. And Mr. Edwards states that since rapae reached 

 West Virginia not a single example of the form he has called virginiensis 

 has been seen there, though diligently sought for. 



Oviposition. The eggs are laid erect on the under surface of leaves, 

 not on the ribs, often several on a leaf and occasionally somewhat near 

 together. Specimens from Schoharie were sent me many years ago by Mr. 

 Lintner. His own account of them is as follows : — 



With few exceptions, the eggs were placed on the under side of a leaf, so near the 

 edge as to render it probable that the butterfly in ovipositing alights on the margin of 

 the upper surface, and bends her body over its edge to place her egg on the less ex- 

 posed under surface. Usually but one occurs on a leaf, but occasionally two or three 

 are found so near together, as to indicate tlieir having been deposited at the same 

 time. 



They hatch in from five to eight or ten days. Gosse once saw a female 

 laying her eggs. 



She alighted on tlie under side of a leaf of horse radish, and immediately, bending 

 her abdomen down, touched the leaf for an instant, and flew away. Looking at the 

 spot I found tile white egg adhering by its end. I have had females lay several eggs 

 when pinned on the setting board. 



