Large White Butterfly. 



461 



and creamy white with black shades on the upper margins. 

 On the forewings of the female there are two black spots on 

 the outer part of each ; below the lower spot there is a 

 narrow stripe of black on the lower margin, and a black spot 

 near the upper margin of each hind wing. The male has no 

 black spots on the upper side of the forewings, but in both 

 sexes there are black spots on the under side of the forewings 

 near the centre. The antennae have distinct black clubs. 



The perfect insect appears in May, early or late according 

 to the season. Flask-shaped eggs, of a dull yellow colour, 

 are laid in groups on either side of the leaves of various 

 cruciferous plants, such as cabbages of all kinds, and on 

 weeds like charlock, hedge mustard, and several others. The 

 greater part of the first brood is probably bred upon wild 

 plants and weeds ; and, if the weather is suitable, the second 

 brood, which appears in July, is bred upon cruciferous plants 

 ■cultivated in fields and gardens. The first brood or generation 

 is over by the beginning of July, and the second, which is 

 the most dangerous and destructive, continues to the end of 

 September, in normal conditions ; but occasionally, as in 

 1898, butterflies of a third generation are found. Taschenberg 

 states that butterflies of the third generation sometimes 

 produce caterpillars in dry and suitable weather. 



The eggs, which are generally laid in May, though they 

 have been found in April in very early seasons, are hatched, 

 as a rule, in about eleven days. The caterpillar is pale green 

 at first and about one-twelfth of an inch long, with a black 

 head. When full grown it is an inch and a half long, 

 ■cylindrical in shape, narrower at the head and tail ends than 

 in the middle of the body. In colour it is bluish green, with 

 grey shades mingled with yellow. Its dorsal and spiracular 

 lines are yellow, and the wider part of the body is greenish. 

 There are short white hairs upon the body. The head is 

 slate coloured, with black dots upon it, and the legs are 

 yellow, with dark markings. 



In ordinary conditions the caterpillar feeds for about twenty- 

 one days, and pupates, in the first generation, either on the 

 plant on which it is feeding, or it crawls away to pupate upon 

 palings, branches and stems of trees, walls, sides of lodges 



