CABBAGE WHITE BUTTERFLIES 



63 



wings are very similar in the first two, but the green-veined 

 species has greenish veins on the under side of the hind 

 wings. The larvae can be distinguished without much difficulty. 

 That of the large species is yellow, spotted with black ; that 

 of the small cabbage white is green, spotted with black and 

 yellow; while the larva of the green-veined species is green 

 all over, except for the reddish spiracles, and a yellow 

 border which surrounds each one. The eggs of the first 

 species are laid in clusters on the under side of a leaf, 

 while those of the other 

 two are laid singly. 



Wintering as pupse, the 

 insects emerge in spring 

 as butteriiies, and com- 

 monly produce two broods 

 in the course of the sum- 

 mer. There is, therefore, 

 no time between April and 

 October when we may not 

 see the butterflies flitting 

 over the fields, while the 

 larvse often feed till near 

 Christmas. When full-fed 

 they quit the food-plant, 

 and betake themselves to 

 the nearest dry and shel- 

 tered refuge that they can 

 find. There they proceed 

 to hang themselves up and 

 pupate. The larva creeps 

 up a paling or wall, chooses 

 a convenient spot, and covers it with a little hillock of silk, 

 to which the tail-end of the body, which bears hooks, is 

 soon attached. But since the pupae of the cabbage whites 

 do not hang downwards, like many other Lepidopterous 

 pupae, but rest upright, a second attachment is provided. 

 This takes the form of a girdle. Silken threads, issuing 

 from the mouth of the larva, are passed backwards and 

 forwards from one point of the supporting surface to another, 

 and attached at both ends. When enough threads have 

 been spun to give due strength to the girdle, the larval skin 



Fig. 45. — Small cabbage white. The upper 

 figure represents the female. 



