80 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



4 



THE LAEGE GARDEN WHITE BUTTERFLY. 



(Pieris Brassicce.) (Plate IV. fig. 2.) 



Why this butterfly should so far outnumber avery 

 other native species (excepting, perhaps, the more rural 

 Meadow Brown), is a question beyond our power to 

 answer satisfactorily. Certainly, the food plants of the 

 caterpillar — cabbages, cresses, and their tribe — are uni- 

 versally met with ; but then we find there are other 

 insects whose food plant is equally plentiful and wide- 

 spread, and yet they are nevertheless very mre or local. 



This is pre-eminently the domestic butterfly, abound- 

 ing in suburban gardens, and at times penetrating into 

 the smoky heart of London, and then even the young 

 " St. Giles's bird," whose eyes were never gladdened by 

 green fields, gets up a butterfly hunt, and, cap (or rag) 

 in hand, feels for the nonce all the enthusiasm of the 

 chase in pursuit of the white-winged wanderer, who 

 looks sadly lost and out of place in the flowerless, 

 brick-and-mortar wilderness. 



This and the next species are the only British butter- 

 fliae who can be charged with committing any appre- 

 ciable amount of damage to human food and pr )perty. 

 In the winged state, indeed, it is utterly harmless (like 

 all other butterflies) ; but not so the hungry caterpillar 

 progeny, as the gardener knows tco well when he looks 



