112 CABBAGE MOTH. 



The popular name of this destructive Moth ia 

 given to it on account of its hahit of feeding on 

 the cabbage when in its larval state. This is 

 the unpleasant caterpillar which sometimes is 

 served up at table by careless cooks, inasmuch 

 as it eats its way into the very centre of the 

 vegetable, where it sometimes is so snugly 

 liidden that it cannot be ejected by the salt and 

 water into which the cabbage is plunged before 

 being boiled. It must not be confounded with 

 the caterpillar of the white cabbage butterfly. 

 Indeed, the cook is sometimes scarcely to blame, 

 for these caterpillars are so numerous, that the 

 total ejection of them all, and the cleansing of 

 the leaves from their refuse, is almost an impos- 

 sibility. 



When the caterpillar is full-fed, it descends 

 to the ground, in which it burrows, and there 

 remains until it assumes the perfect state in the 

 ensuing summer. 



The colour of the upper wings is very dark 

 brown, with a decided tinge of grey, and 

 diversified with a number of transverse dark 

 marks distributed rather singularly over its 

 surface. 



Though, as its name implies, the principal 

 food of this insect is the cabbage, it is rather a 



