vm] THE LIFE-STORY AND THE SEASONS 101 



spring-time. They pair and lay their eggs on cabbages 

 and other plants, and the green hairy caterpillars feed 

 in June and July, after which the spotted pupae may 

 be found on fences and walls, attached by the silken 

 tail-pad and supported by the waist-girdle. In August 

 and September butterflies of the second brood have 

 emerged from these and are on the wing ; their off- 

 spring are the autumn caterpillars which feed in 

 some seasons as late as November, doing often serious 

 damage to the late cruciferous crops before they 

 pupate. The pupae may be seen during the winter 

 months, waiting for the spring sunshine to call out the 

 butterflies whose structures are being formed beneath 

 the hard cuticle. 



Reviewing the small selection of life-stories of 

 various Lepidoptera just sketched, we notice an in- 

 teresting and suggestive variety in the wintering 

 stage. The vanessid butterflies hibernate as imagos ; 

 the 'vapourer' winters in the egg, the magpie as a 

 young ungrown larva, the ' tiger ' as a half-size larva ; 

 the Agrotis caterpillar feeds through the winter, 

 growing all the time ; the codling caterpillar com- 

 pletes its growth in the autumn, and winters as a 

 full-size resting larva ; lastly, the ' whites ' hibernate 

 in the pupal state. And in every case it is note- 

 worthy that the form or habit of the wintering stage 

 is well adapted for enduring cold. 



Our native ' whites ' afford illustration of another 



