30 BUTTERFLIES 



PLATE XVI 

 THE SMALL WHITE (3 and 4) 



This butterfly is even commoner than the last. 

 Indeed, two butterflies out of every three which 

 you see on a warm summer's day are almost sure 

 to be Small Whites, and they are always very 

 plentiful indeed in gardens, where their cater- 

 pillars often do a great deal of mischief. You 

 can easily tell them from the caterpillars of the 

 "large white," for they are pale green in colour, 

 with a yellow line running down the middle of 

 the back, and a dotted line of the same colour 

 on either side. And instead of having short, stiff 

 hairs all over their bodies, they are covered with 

 a kind of very soft down. They, too, feed upon 

 cabbages and cauliflowers, but instead of eating 

 away the outer leaves only, like those of the " large 

 white," they bore their way right into the very 

 heart of the plants, and often quite spoil them 

 for use as human food. Very often, too, you may 

 find them feeding on the leaves of nasturtiums, 

 and also on those of mignonette. 



This butterfly, like the last, appears in the 

 early spring, and again in summer, and you can 

 tell the female from the male by the two black 

 spots upon her front wings. The chrysalis is 

 sometimes green in colour, and sometimes yellow, 

 and sometimes light or reddish-brown. 



