14 



POPULAR PAPERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 



ENTOMOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS. 



The Southern Cabbage Butterfly — Pieris protodice. 



By W. Saunders, London, Ontario. 



In figure 1 we have represented the male, and in figure 2 the female of the Southern 



Cabbage Butterfly, an insect by no means confined 

 to the South, although much more abundant there 

 than in the more northerly portions of America. 

 This insect enjoys a wide geographical distribution, 

 extending south-west as far as Texas, west to Mis- 

 souri, north-west to the Red River, and along the east 

 from Connecticut to the Southern Atlantic States. 

 A few years ago it was not uncommon around Lon- 

 don, and occasionally quite plentiful about the shore 

 of Lake Erie at Port Stanley ; but of late years it 

 has become a rare insect with us, and we have not 

 met with a specimen on the wing for several years. The English Cabbage Butterfly, 

 Pieris rapes, seems to have taken its place entirely. 



The butterfly is a very pretty one, as will be 

 seen by the figures. The ground colour in both 

 sexes is white, with black spots and black and 

 dusky markings which are much more numerous 

 in the female than in the male. Although so ljare 

 in Ontario that it has never, as far as we know, 

 been reported as injurious, it is frequently very 

 destructive to the south of us. According to Mr. 

 Riley, it is abundant in Missouri, and often proves 

 exceedingly injurious, sometimes destroying in a 

 single district thousands of dollars worth of cab- Fig. 2. 



bages. 



The caterpillar when full grown (figure 3, a), is about an inch and a quarter long, 



of a bluish -green colour, with four longitud- 

 inal yellow stripes and many black dots ; 

 when first hatched it is of an orange colour 

 with a black head. The chrysalis, shown at 

 b in the figure, is about seven- tenths of an 

 inch long, of a light bluish-grey colour 

 speckled with black, with the ridges and 

 prominences edged with buff or flesh-colour, 

 and having larger black dots. 



The insect hybernates in the chrysalis 

 state, and where commoo may be found on 

 the wing during the months of J uly, August 

 Fig. 3. and September. 



The Great Leopard MoTK—^Ecpantheria scribonia Stoll. 



The larva of this insect is comparatively abundant in the autumn throughout most 

 of the Northern United States and in many parts of Canada. It is found feeding on 

 various species of plants, but most commonly on the wild Sunflower, Helianthus decape- 

 tahis. It is about two and a half inches long, with a shining black head shaded with 

 reddish on the sides, and a brownish black body. Each segment has an irregular trans- 

 verse row of tubercles from which spring tufts of rigid shining black hairs, while the 



