2694 The Zoologist— August, 1871. 



the caterpillar and chrysalis than as if they had no existence." — Preface, 

 Moths, p. iii. 



" The Cabbage Moth. — The autennfe are rather long and slender, and 

 scarcely ciliated in either sex ; the fore wings are dark smoky gray-brown, 

 mottled and marbled with confused markings, both darker and paler ; the 

 orbicular spot is inconspicuous, but decidedly to be traced ; the reniform is 

 delicately outlined with white or whitish gray, and has a pale interior disk, 

 in which the same pale gray colour predominates : the hind wings are dark 

 smoky-brown, with rather pale base, and rather darker crescentic discoidal 

 spot and wing-rays : the head, thorax, and body have the same colour as the 

 fore and hind wings. 



" The egg is Idd on the cultivated varieties of Brassica, as summer 

 cabbage, brocoli, cauliflower, seakale, &c., and the young caterpillar emerges 

 in a few days, and immediately commences its destructive career. I am 

 unable to give a precise date for oviposition, or for the emergence of the 

 caterpillar, having observed them feeding throughout the summer and 

 autumn. In a perfectly natural state this caterpillar devours the leaves of 

 almost every herb, particularly the various species of Chenopodium and 

 Rumex ; in the garden it is excessively destructive, having an insatiable 

 appetite, which it seeks to indulge, without intermission, day and night; 

 it spoils even more than it devours, gnawing its way into the very heart of 

 our cabbages, and filhng its galleries with watery and disgusting excrement ; 

 it is next to impossible to rid the cabbages of their unwelcome tenant, which 

 continually escapes the vigilant eyes of the cook, and, boiled to death in tho 

 midst of its noxious career, is served up as an almost inevitable concomitant 

 of summer cabbage. It is, however, by no means confined to the interior, 

 but may be found feeding exposed on cabbages, dahlias, geraniums, mary- 

 golds, and almost every plant, useful or ornamental, that the garden 

 produces. When full-fed, it rolls itself in a compact ring if annoyed, and 

 remains in that position fer a considerable time ; when crawling the head is 

 somewhat porrectcd. The head is scarcely so broad as the body, and is 

 partially received into the second segment ; the body is c^dindrical, smooth, 

 and velvety ; the twelfth segment is slightly incrassated dorsally. The head 

 is very glabrous, testaceous, reticulated, or marbled with darker brown ; the 

 body usually divided longitudinally into two equal regions as regards colour ; 

 the dorsal region, including the spiracles, is olive-brown ; the ventral region 

 dingy yellow ; the division between the two colours is usually abrupt and 

 clearly defined, and extends throughout the length of the caterpillar from 

 the head to the anal claspers ; on the back of every segment is a somewhat 

 obscure triangular mark pointing backwards, and rendered more conspicuous 

 by being bounded by a lighter shade ; in each triangle are two white dots 

 placed transversely ; the spiracles are also white ; the legs and claspers are 



