CABBAGE MOTH. 



29 



do not seem to dislike the leafage of any of our common 

 plants, whether sweet or acrid, and they may be found on 

 Marigolds, Dahlias, and Geraniums, in the flower-garden, as 

 well as on the leaves of the Tobacco ; they frequent the Dock, 

 amongst wild plants, and they are sometimes found on the 

 leaves of the Eed Currant ; but we suffer most from their attacks 

 on Cauliflower, and on the hearted Cabbages in the autumn. 



Mamestra hrassica : 1, moth ; 2, caterpillar ; 3, chrysalis. 



Their appetite seems insatiable (they are stated to eat day 

 and night), but however this may be, they soon ruin the 

 Cabbage by gnawing large holes down into the heart, and 

 making what is left truly disgusting, by the excrement from 

 the caterpillars, which remains in lumps between the leaves, 

 or spreads downwards in wet green masses. 



The moth lays her eggs on the leaves, and the caterpillars 

 hatch in a few days and immediately begin to feed. They 

 are usually green in their early stages, but afterwards vary 

 much in colour, some being pale dingy green ; some green, 

 and black above ; some blackish above, variegated with flesh- 

 colour, and on the back of each ring or segment there is a 

 short line or somewhat triangular-shaped mark, lighter at 

 the edge, and slanting backward. The head is ochreous, or 

 marbled with darker brown, and the next segment to it is 

 black above. When full-fed these caterpillars are upwards of 

 an inch and a quarter in length, and on being annoyed roll 

 themselves into a tight ring. They change to chestnut- 

 coloured chrysalids in the earth (or sometimes on the surface), 

 and usually pass the winter in this state, protected by earth. 

 From these the moths come out in the course of the following 

 May or later in the summer. The moths are of a rich brown, 

 the upper wings are variously marked (as in the figure) with 

 black streaks and circles, and have also a large ear-shaped 

 spot, bordered with white and surrounded by a dark line ; the 

 lower wings are brown, dirty white at the base. — (' Farm 

 Insects,' • Hist, of Brit. Moths.') 



