CABBAGE PESTS 
foliage but capture great quantities of 
them. Various contract sprays, such as 
tobacco extract, emulsions, soaps, resin 
wash, and arsenic also have been used 
with good effect, but the cost due to great 
numbers of applications necessary, makes 
them almost prohibitive. 
E. O. ESssia 
Imported Cabbage Web Worm 
Hellula undalis, Fab 
The moth is gray in color with mot- 
tled fore wings which have an expanse of 
about five-eighths of an inch. The full- 
grown larvae are about half an inch long, 
grayish-yellow with five longitudinal 
bands. 
Distributed pretty well over the South 
and Southeast. Does considerable dam- 
age to cabbages, turnips, beets and the 
cruciferae generally. 
Several species of flies are parasites. 
Bordeaux mixture sprayed on the plants 
when first set out acts as a repellent. 
Clean culture and destruction of refuse 
material is also suggested. 
Literature 
Bureau Entomology Bulletin 109, Pt. ITI. 
Division Entomology Bulletin 33, New 
Series. 
Imported Cabbage Worm 
Pontia rapae Sch. 
Family Pieridae 
Pieris rapae Linn. 
General Appearance 
Though this is an imported insect it 
has become as common as if it had al- 
ways been here. The adult butterflies are 
about one and one-fourth inches long with 
a wing expanse of two inches. The color 
is white with two small black spots near 
the middle and a large black spot at the 
tip of each fore wing. The caterpillars 
are light velvety green in color and very 
finely dotted with minute dark spots. The 
length when full grown varies from one 
to one and one half inches. The chrysalis 
is about one inch long and varies in color 
from yellow to green, light or dark gray. 
Life History 
In the northern part of the state the 
species winters over in the chrysalis stage, 
685 
while in the south adult butterflies may 
be seen almost any time of the year. 
They become very much in evidence early 
in March and are active throughout the 
entire summer and fall. Egg laying be- 
gins soon after the adults leave the 
chrysalis stage. The eggs hatch in about 
a week and the young caterpillars begin 
feeding at once. They first feed upon 
the: outer leaves, making them ragged 
and holey, but gradually work through 
towards the heart of the cabbage, leaving 
the dark-green excrement to mark their 
paths of destruction. The growth is very 
Fig. 1. 
Adults, Imported Cabbage Worm. 
(Tennessee Experiment Station) 
rapid so that in from one to two weeks 
they are ready to select some secluded 
spot beneath an old cabbage leaf or some 
nearby object and prepare for the chry- 
salis stage, which, during the first two 
generations in the summer months, lasts 
little longer than the larval stage, but 
which in the fall continues throughout the 
winter. There are several generations a 
year. In fact in the southern part of the 
state it seems as if the breeding is only 
slightly checked during the winter 
months. 
