State Agricultural Society. 561 
it, or mount over its back. It never attempts to bite another insect 
or larva, however much it is molested by it. 
Another trait of this cabbage worm which merits to be particularly 
noticed, is its strong vitality, its remarkable hardiness and tenacity 
of life. Several facts already stated show that both the larva; and the 
pupae survive such disasters and mistreatment as would be deemed 
fatal to them. And I may further add to what has been related, that 
water does not appear to drown these worms, and freezing does not 
appear to kill them. Upon a chilly day, in the middle of November, 
meeting with a half grown worm which appeared to be so torpid with 
cold that it was unable to crawl, I placed it in a concavity in a cab¬ 
bage leaf which was lying upon the ground, proposing to observe it 
further. A cold rain coming on, filled with water the hollow in the 
leaf, in which this worm was lying, and the following night this water 
froze to ice. Going to it the next morning, and finding the worm 
imbedded inside the solid ice, I placed it upon a dry leaf in the sun¬ 
shine, where the ice gradually melted, and the worm becoming dry 
was found to be alive. Bringing it in doors, its neck was found to 
be swollen, showing that it was preparing to cast off its old skin, and 
would therefore remain quiescent until this was accomplished.’ It, 
however, turned its head around whenever it was touched, and 
the next night it changed its skin, thus showing that it survived 
an immersion of eight or ten hours in water of icy coldness, and a 
freezing inside of a cake of ice. 
Being thus strongly tenacious of life, those offensive and poisonous 
substances which are repulsive and fetal to many larva;, will have little 
it any effect upon these worms. 
Most fortunately, nature has provided many natural enemies to 
these cabbage butterflies, whereby in their native haunts they are 
constantly preyed upon and restrained from becoming unduly numer¬ 
ous. But having newly arrived on our continent, they find they are 
here released from their most inveterate destroyers, and are therefore 
able to multiply without check or hindrance. Sooner or later, how¬ 
ever, these foreign destroyers will follow them to our shores, or some 
of our American predaceouAnsects will learn to assail and prey upon 
them, whereby they will cease to be the formidable evil which they 
now are. •' 
The birds, by European writers, are- ranked as most important 
destroyers of the larva; of this and the larger-cabbage butterfly. Mr 
Haworth states that “small birds destroy incredible numbers of them 
as food and should be encourged. I once observed a titmouse (/Ws 
1Ag.| 71 
