THE LARGE WHITE. 35 



are two figures of the egg from enlarged drawings by Herr Max 

 Gillmer, to whom I am greatly indebted for the loan of them. 

 In the figure on the right, the dark spot at the shoulder of the 

 egg represents the head of the young caterpillar, and in that 

 on the left is seen the caterpillar about to come out of the egg. 

 The head is already out, and the jaws have left their mark 

 on the egg-shell. Most caterpillars of the Whites, as well as 

 those of other butterflies, devour their egg-shells. 



The eggs are laid in batches of from six to over one hundred 

 in each batch. They are placed on end, and on either side of 

 a leaf, chiefly cabbage. Herr Gillmer writes that he watched 

 a female depositing her eggs on a leaf of white cabbage in the 

 hot sunshine, and found that she laid twenty-seven in about 

 nine minutes. A previous observer had timed a female, and 

 noted that she produced eggs at the rate of about four in the 

 minute. Caterpillars hatch from the egg in about seven days 

 in the summer. The caterpillar (Plate 5) when full grown is 

 green tinged with blue or grey above, and greenish beneath. 

 There are numerous short whitish hairs arising from little 

 warts on the back and sides ; the lines are yellow. The 

 caterpillars feed in July, and sometimes again in September 

 and October, on all plants of the cabbage tribe, and also on 

 tropaeolum and mignonette. A number of these caterpillars 

 may often be seen crowded together on a cabbage leaf, and 

 they sometimes abound to such an extent that much loss is 

 sustained by growers of this most useful vegetable. A pecu- 

 liarity of these caterpillars is that even when not numerous, 

 their presence is indicated by an evil smell that proceeds from 

 them. The unpleasantness of the odour is greatly intensified 

 if the caterpillars are trodden upon. 



The chrysalis (Plate 5) is of a grey colour, more or less 

 spotted with black and streaked with yellow. It is often to 

 be seen fixed horizontally under the copings of walls, the 

 tcp bar of a fence, or a window-sill ; but it sometimes affects 



