332 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



Garden White Butterflies. 



The two of our native butterflies that are best known to the community are 

 the large 1 and the small "^garden whites. Yet they are not the commonest of our 

 species, for in point of numbers the meadow brown ^ and the small heath ^ far 

 exceed them. But these are dull coloured and keep to the open country, 



whilst the two whites named are urban 

 as ^^'ell as rural, and their white and 

 black coloration renders them exceed- 

 ingly conspicuous. They might almost 

 be described as domestic Insects, for 

 they are far more abundant in gardens 

 and allotments than in the fields, except 

 where these happen to be cropped with 

 cabbages or plants of the same family. 

 As suggested in the article on the 

 brimstone-butterfl}', there is every 

 reason for supposing that these butter- 

 flies owe their plentifulness to man 

 the cultivator. He produces their food 

 in abundance, and has taken pains, by 

 selection and cultivation, to make it 

 more tender and luxuriant, and the 

 Insects have taken full advantage of 

 these conditions, and have so thriven 

 on his industry that there are times 

 when the voracity of their teeming 

 caterpillars threatens to extinguish that 

 industry by making it non-productive. 

 With many persons there is a 

 belief that the large and 

 whites are merely younger 

 older individuals of the 

 species, but if they would watch 

 development they would become easily 

 satisfied that this is not so. As in all 

 other Insects, the full size of the butter- 

 fly is reached soon after it has escaped 

 from the chrysalis and before it has taken its first flight. The eggs of the two are 

 very similar, but the caterpillars are quite different, and so are the chrysalids, 

 though, of course, there is a family likeness. Let us glance at these in turn and 

 point out wherein the differences lie. 



If one walks down to the cabbage patch and notes that some of the big leaves 

 have been reduced to skeletons, only the thicker and tougher ribs having been left, 

 one may be tolerably certain that the caterpillars of the large white have done this 



yi'oto by] [H. Main, F.E.S. 



The Hover-Fly's Grub. 



The grub of the hovcr-fiy may be distinguished at once bv its 

 shape, the body tapering from the broad hinder part to the head- 

 less front. It has no legs, and locomotion is effected by the alter- 

 nate contraction and e.xtension of the bodv, hold being taken by 

 the two extremities. 



small 



and 



same 



their 



■^ ' Pieris brassic£E. 



rapas. 



Epincpliclc ianira. 



•• C.a?nonymplKi jiainjihilus. 



