80 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



THE LAEGE GAEDEN WHITE BUTTERFLY. 

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



WHY this butterfly should so far outnumber sverj 

 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 rare 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 tho 

 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- 

 flias who can be charged with committing any appre- 

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

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

 all otfier butterflies) ; but not so the hungry caterpillar 

 progeny, as the gardener knows too well when he looka 



