534 
Annual Report of New York 
bluntly rounded. They are beautifully sculptured, being ribbedt 
lengthwise and closely and very minutely striated transversely. The 
number of the ribs or elevated ridges is fifteen. The eggs are of a 
very pale greenish white color and the ribs clearer whi ,e. They are 
slightly glued to the underside of the leaf by a gummy substance 
which is soluble in water, whereby they would probably be washed 
off the leaf by the rains, were they not placed on the underside where 
the wet will not reach them. 
The eggs which are laid in May hatch in about ten days, and later 
in the season, when the weather becomes warmer, they probably hatch 
in a shorter time. Some authors state that the worms of this genus, 
in hatching, burst open the egg shell. This is not so, at least of this 
species. The worm begins to feed when it is inside of the shell. 
When it first wakens to life it commences opening and closing its 
jaws. These, being in contact with the inner surface of the shell, 
scratch upon and erode it, its ribbed uneven surface aiding to expedite 
this operation. At length a small opening is hereby made in the shell. 
The edges of this opening are then eaten away, more and more, 
until a hole is made, sufficiently large for the worm to crawl out. 
And after making its exit, the worm continues to nibble at this open¬ 
ing, until it has eaten the whole of the shell. 
When it first issues from the shell it is a minute cylindrical worm 
of a glossy, watery-white color, thinly clothed with fine shortish hairs. 
It clings to the leaf with the thick fleshy legs at the hind part of its 
body, throwing its head suddenly and spitefully from side to side 
when anything molests it. The first worms coming out as they do in 
May, are liable to encounter some frosty nights and cold chilly days, 
during which they remain clinging to the leaf, torpid and motionless, 
awaiting the return of a more genial atmosphere to warm them again 
into activity. 
The infant worm, having consumed the egg-shell, begins to feed 
upon the green leaf, and immediately thereupon its body begins to 
acquire a green color. It eats small round holes through the leaf 
when it is young, larger and less regular ones as it advances in size 
and approaches maturity. It feeds mostly by night and remains at 
rest during the day, frequently standing in the groove made by the mid- 
vein on the upper side of the cabbage and turnip leaves, with its head 
downward, toward the base of the leaf. But if there is a fold in the 
margin or any other covert where it will be more hid from view, it 
conceals itself therein. It resorts to the same place upon the leaf day 
after day, spinning and fastening to the surface mu exceedingly fine 
