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COMMON CABBAGE BUTTERFLY. 
and black above, the former clothed with hoary pu- 
bescence on the thorax. Males sometimes occur 
spotted with black on the upper wings, somewhat 
in a similar manner to the female. 
The caterpillar is green, having a narrow line of 
yellow along the hack, and another on each Bide of 
the belly ; the body pretty thickly covered with black 
tubercular points, each of them with a hair in the 
centre. Besides consuming the different varieties of 
the common cabbage (hrocoli, cauliflower, &c.), this 
destructive caterpillar has been often found to attack 
the turnip, and its voracity is so great, that these 
useful vegetables would often be completely destroy- 
ed, were it not for the numerous enemies which 
prevent its superabundant increase. Of these, the 
most formidable are the parasitical ichneumons, es- 
pecially the minute species formerly described,* and 
others allied to it. The small birds likewise destroy 
great numbers. “ I once observed a titmouse (Pa- 
rtis major),” says Haworth, “ take five or six large 
ones to its nest in a very few minutes. In inclosed 
gardens, sea-gulls, with their wings cut, are of infi- 
nite service. I had one eight years, which was killed 
by accident, that lived entirely all the while upon the 
insects, slugs, and worms he found in the garden. 
Poultry of any sort will soon clear a small piece of 
ground ; hut unless they are of the web-footed kind 
they do much mischief, by scratching the earth.' 
But perhaps the most effectual method would be to 
* Page 89. 
