THE CABBAGE-CATERPILLAR 295 



in flower ; and still she recognizes off-hand what suits her 

 caterpillars, in spite of profound differences that would 

 embarrass any but a botanical expert. 



Unless the Pieris has an innate power of discrimina- 

 tion to guide her, it is impossible to understand the great 

 extent of her vegetable realm. She needs for her family 

 Cruciferae, nothing but Cruciferae; and she knows this 

 group of plants to perfection. I have been an enthusi- 

 astic botanist for half a century and more. Nevertheless, 

 to discover if this or that plant, new to me, is or is not 

 one of the Cruciferae, in the absence of flowers and fruits 

 I should have more faith in the Butterfly's statements 

 than in all the learned records of the books. Where 

 science is apt to make mistakes instinct is infallible. 



The Pieris has two families a year: one in April and 

 May, the other in September. The cabbage-patches are 

 renewed in those same months. The Butterfly's calendar 

 tallies with the gardener's: the moment that provisions 

 are in sight, consumers are forthcoming for the feast. 



The eggs are a bright orange-yellow and do not lack 

 prettiness when examined under the lens. They are 

 blunted cones, ranged side by side on their round base 

 and adorned with finely scored longitudinal ridges. 

 They are collected in slabs, sometimes on the upper 

 surface, when the leaf that serves as a support is spread 

 wide, sometimes on the lower surface when the leaf is 

 pressed to the next ones. Their number varies con- 

 siderably. Slabs of a couple of hundred are pretty fre- 

 quent; isolated eggs, or eggs collected in small groups, 



