80 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



THE LARGE GARDEN "WHITE BUTTEEELY. 

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



WHY this butterfly should so far outnumber every 

 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 the 

 chase in pursuit of the white- winged wanderer, who 

 looks sadly lost and out of place n the flowerless, 

 brick-and-mortar wilderness. 



This and the next species are the on' \ British butter- 

 flies who can be charged with committJig any appre- 

 ciable amount of damage to human food and property. 

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

 all other butterflies) ; but not so the hungry caterpillar 

 progeny, as the gardener knows too well when he looks 



