Insects in the Garden 313 



is now a pupa (plural, pupce) or, as it is also called, a 

 chrysalis (plural, chrysalides). Before it passes into this 

 stage the caterpillar usually leaves the plant upon which 

 it has been feeding and crawls up some object, as a tree, 

 a fence, or a building. 



The pupal stage is the resting period of the insect's 

 life ; when in this stage it does not eat, and appears to be 

 inactive and dormant. But within the thin shell wonder- 

 ful changes are taking place, and in time a butterfly 

 develops and comes forth. This is the mature or adult 

 form of the insect. 



The cabbage butterfly is white above and white or 

 yellowish beneath, with a wing spread of about 2 inches. 

 The male has one black spot on each of the four wings. 

 The female has an extra spot on each of the. front wings. 

 These butterflies may be seen flitting about the garden 

 almost any day during the summer. In the butterfly 

 stage the insect does not feed upon the cabbage plants ; 

 its food is now obtained from the nectar of flowers. 



When the female is ready to lay eggs, she alights on 

 the edge of a cabbage leaf and glues the eggs, one at a 

 time, in different places on the lower surface. A butter- 

 fly has been known to lay as many as 125 eggs in a single 

 day, but of course not all of these are placed on any one 

 plant. The eggs are about -^ inch in length. In from 

 3 to 10 days the eggs hatch ; tiny caterpillars emerge and 

 immediately begin feeding. 



In its life cycle, this insect passes through four rather 

 distinct forms : (i) the egg; (2) the caterpillar or larva 

 (plural, larva), which is often incorrectly called a 

 worm ; (3) the pupa, or so-called resting form ; and 



