GARDEN WHITE. 123 



cabbage-feeders of another sort, the vulgar tastes which be- 

 longed to their caterpillar birth? The fragrant meadow, the 

 sunny hedgerow, the gay parterre, now constitute their range, 

 their meat is honey, washed down by pearly dew-drops. 

 These are the butterflies of the genus Pontia, known univer- 

 sally as the common white so universally, that description 

 is hardly needed for their general recognition, though requi- 

 site enough for distinction of their several (as many as about 

 seven) species. At the head of these is placed, usually, the 

 large " Cabbage White "* of the garden, with yellowish mealy 

 wings, the foremost nearly triangular, the hindermost rounded, 

 and as if sprinkled with grey towards the body. The anterior 

 pair, both of male and female, are tipped with black; but 

 those of the latter are marked, each with two black spots, 

 wanting in the pinions of the former. The caterpillar of this 

 primary Pontia is that devouring familiar of the potager, to 

 which gardeners, sparrows, and Ichneumon flies require not 

 a word of introduction ; but on account of others, who, for the 

 sake of the butterfly, may desire to make its acquaintance, we 

 may just notice that its general hue is bluish -grey, spotted 

 with black, besprinkled with short hairs, and marked by a 

 yellow line along the back with one on either side. 



Also of the Pontia genus there are the " Little Whites "f 

 come of little green caterpillars (the French Vers du Coeur), 

 feeders on cabbage-hearts the " Green-veined Whites " so 



* Pontia Brassica. t Pontia, Brassicce. 



