532 
Annual Report of New York 
6een living about the garden. It pertains to a group which has been 
termed the Brassicaoece or Cabbage Butterflies, from the fondness- 
which those of their larvae whose habits have been observed, nearly 
all manifest, for feeding upon the different plants which pertain to- 
the genus Brassioa, the cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and turnip, though 
they readily nourish themselves also upon any of the other species of 
the natural order Crucifera, the mustard, radish, horse-radish, nastur- 
tion, water-cress, etc., to which order of plants most of the species- 
appear to be confined. They are also termed the Garden-white But¬ 
terflies, from the places they frequent and their being so uniformly of 
a white color. This group is quite extensive, the species being dis¬ 
tributed over most parts of the world. They are especially numer¬ 
ous in the tropical countries of the eastern hemisphere, whilst here 
upon the American continent their numbers are very few. This 
White Butterfly is our only native species in the central and northern 
sections of New York, its geographical range being known to extend 
west to Lake Superior and north to Labrador and the sixty-fifth 
degree of latitude. Originally subsisting upon some one or more of 
our wild plants of the order Crucifera, it has now become accustomed 
to lay under contribution for its support our cultivated plants of this 
order, particularly the cabbage and the turnip; and these plants being 
grown so extensively in all our gardens furnish it an abundant supply 
of nourishment, whereby its numbers are now greatly increased. I 
think I am safe in saying that within the sphere of my own observa¬ 
tion these butterflies of late years are ten fold more numerous than 
they were forty years ago. Complaints of their injuries are getting 
to be frequent, and they are threatening to become a formidable evil. 
The White Butterfly comes out of the pupa shell in which it reposes 
through the winter, and begins to be seen along road sides and in the 
meadows on the first coming on of warm weather. Pupae which I 
had kept in a stove warmed room through the winter, gave out the 
butterflies on the twenty-seventh day of April, and it is only ten or 
twelve days later than this that they come out when they are in the 
outdoor atmosphere. Several years I have noted them as being first 
seen on the eighth and other years on the ninth day of May. One 
year only have I seen them abroad earlier than this, on the sixth day 
of the month. It is along road sides and in the meadows that they 
mostly occur at the commencement of the season. 
The sexes pair and the female commences laying her eggs imme¬ 
diately on issuing from the pupa state. At this early period in 
the season there are no garden plants sufficiently grown for it to resort 
