66 Second Report on Economic Zoology. 



chiefly a cabbage pest, but it attacks a great variety of plants such 

 as turnips, radishes, strawberries, lettuce, currants, dahlias, melons, 

 marigolds, bush roses, geraniums, tobacco plants, and they arc fond of 

 maize, feeding amongst the male flowers and also attacking the 

 female spikes, destroying the brush crowning them. In fact nearly 

 all plants are devoured by this pest. 



The Cabbage Moth appears on the wing in May, June and July. 

 The moth has dark grey fore wings varied with black, having many 

 blackish streaks upon the costal edge, a large ear-shaped spot 

 margined with white and surrounded by a dark line; the ends of the 

 wings are festooned with black, and along this runs a sinuous white 

 line, two more or less distinct black circles between the white spots 

 and the base of the wings ; the hind wings are brown, pale at the base, 

 and have a whitish fringe ; thorax the same colour as the fore wings ; 

 the abdomen brown with more or less distinct tufts down the back, 

 the apex is distinctly tufted ; the legs are brown and very hairy at 

 the base, the tarsi with ochreous bands. The wing expanse reaches 

 about one and three-fourths of an inch, the length of the body being 

 nearly to quite three-fourths of an inch. They fly at dusk and at 

 night ; remaining at rest upon tree trunks, palings, etc., during the 

 day. They may also be found nestling against the sides of clods, 

 stones, etc., in flelds. 



The eggs are laid on the leaves of the plants, especially on 

 cabbages, and hatch in six or seven days. The caterpillars, like the 

 moth, are very varied in coloiir, depending, it seems, upon the plants 

 upon which they feed ; when young they are always green, but as 

 they grow they mostly change in colour, some remain green, others 

 are greyish-green, also almost black dorsally and yellowish above the 

 feet, below greenish-grey ; there is sometimes a prominent dusky 

 dorsal line ; the head is ochreous and horny and the first segment is 

 blackish ; the legs and prolegs are all green and the spiracles pure 

 white. When full grown they reach an inch and a quarter in 

 length. 



The method of feeding varies according to the plant attacked. 

 When on cabbages they eat their way into the heart of the cabbage, 

 no matter how solid, and defile it with moist green " frass," giving 

 the cabbage a most disgusting appearance ; plants may be completely 

 riddled by them ; when attacking turnips, etc., they devour the 

 leaves down to their midribs. When mature they either enter the 

 ground to pupate or may change on the surface or under a stone or 

 tile. The pupa is chestnut brown with occasionally darker areas. 

 It may be placed in a cell of earth, or it may be naked in the soil 



