JUNE 129 



Hedgehogs can swim well, though none has been 

 actually seen to take to the water of its own free will. 

 I once found five half-grown ones drowned in a way- 

 side well into which they had fallen. 



It is notable that, although there are fourteen 

 species of Erinaceus in Europe, Asia, and Africa, the 

 genus has no representative either on the American 

 continent nor in Australasia. 



XXIII 



One consequence of the Great War has been the multi- 

 plication of allotments, intensive industry white 

 applied to the production of food plants, and Butt erflies 

 the growth, among other esculents, of unprecedented 

 quantities of cabbage. It seems a fitting time, there- 

 fore, to note the chief insect enemies of that useful 

 vegetable. They are two in number, closely resembling 

 each other except in size, namely, the Large White 

 butterfly (Pieris brassicce) and the Small White (Pieris 

 rapce). Everybody knows these cheerful creatures, the 

 Small White being the more abundant, though both 

 species are common enough in all parts of the realm ; 

 but comparatively few people have cared to give 

 thought to the life history of these insects, or have 

 even applied so much attention to them as to note the 

 marks distinguishing between the sexes. 



In both species the males and females have white 

 wings with black tips to the fore- wings. In the Large 

 White both sexes have a black mark on the front 

 margin of the hind-wing; but the female is distin- 



