The Cabbage-caterpillar 



absence of better things, on what it would 

 refuse were it free to hunt for itself. Having 

 naught else within their reach, the starvelings 

 consume any and all Cruciferae, without dis- 

 tinction of species. Can things sometimes be 

 the same in the open fields, where I play none 

 of my tricks? Can the family of the White 

 Butterfly be settled on other crucifers than 

 the cabbage? I start a quest along the paths 

 near the gardens and end by finding on wild 

 radish and white mustard colonies as crowded 

 and prosperous as those established on cab- 

 bage. 



Now, except when the metamorphosis is at 

 hand, the caterpillar of the White Butterfly 

 never travels : he does all his growing on the 

 identical plant whereon he saw the light. The 

 caterpillars observed on the wild radish, as 

 well as other households, are not, therefore, 

 emigrants who have come as a matter of fancy 

 from some cabbage-patch in the neighbour- 

 hood: they have hatched on the very leaves 

 where I find them. Hence I arrive at this 

 conclusion: the White Butterfly, who is fitful 

 in her flight, chooses cabbage first, to dab her 

 eggs upon, and different Cruciferae next, 

 varying greatly in appearance. 



337 



