PAPILIONID^. 



249 



The White Turnip, or Cabbage butterfly, Pieris oleracea Harris 

 (Fig. 182 ; a, larva), is well known as being often destructive to 

 cruciferous plants. In this genus, and its allies, the wings are 

 rounded and entire on the edges, and are grooved on the inner 

 edge to receive the abdomen. The greenish caterpillars are 

 slender, "tapering a very little toward each end, and are spar- 

 ingly clothed with a short down which is quite apparent, how- 

 ever, in Pieris oleracea." We have found the larvae of this 

 species on turnip leaves in the middle of August, at Chamber- 

 lain Farm in Northern Maine. They are of a dull green, and 

 covered with dense hairs. They suspend themselves by the 

 tail and a transverse loop ; and their chrysalids are angular 

 at the sides, and pointed at both ends. (Harris.) Pieris 

 oleracea is white, with the 

 wings dusky next the body, 

 the tips of the fore- wings are 

 yellowish beneath, and the 

 hind wings are straw-colored 

 beneath. The yellowish, pear- 

 shaped, longitudinally ribbed 

 eggs, are laid three or four 

 on a single leaf. In a week 

 or ten days the larvae are 

 hatched. They live three Fig. 182. 



weeks before becoming full-fed. The chiysalis state lasts ten 

 to twelve days. There is an early summer (May) and a late 

 summer (July) brood. Pieris rajyce Schrank has been intro- 

 duced from Europe and is now found in the vicinity of Quebec 

 and the northern parts of New England. 



P. Protodice Boisd. and Lee. is found southward. The 

 head of the chrysalis, kindly sent me by Mr. Saunders, is pro- 

 longed into a tubercle, which is equilaterally triangular, seen 

 in outline, with two small tubercles near the base. On the 

 thorax is a high, thin dorsal ridge, edged with red. On each side 

 of the abdomen is a ridge, largest anteriorly, and rising into 

 a thin tubercle on the second ring. There is a thin dorsal 

 ridge on the posterior half of the abdomen. The tip is deeply 

 excavated by a furrow extending the whole length of the ter- 

 minal ring. There are seven rows of black dots on each ring. 



