52 
HALE HOURS WITH INSECTS. [Packard. 
The European Cabbage Butterfly. — It is interesting to 
compare the habits of the imported butterfly with those of 
our native species. We have two kinds of white Cabbage 
butterflies which have never done much harm to our cabbage 
and turnip crops. The first of these is the common white 
Northern Cabbage Butterfly, Pieris oleracea of Harris (Fig. 
40, a, larva). We have found the larvae of this species on 
turnip leaves in the middle of August, at Chamberlain farm 
in northern Maine. They are of a dull green, and covered 
with dense hairs. When about to transform they suspend 
themselves by the tail and a transverse loop, and their 
f ig . 40 . chrysalides are angular at 
the sides and pointed at 
both ends (Harris). The 
butterfly is white, with 
the wings dusky next the 
body, the tips of the fore 
wings are yellowish be¬ 
neath, and the hind wings 
are straw-colored beneath. 
The yellowish, pear- 
. s h a# e d, longitudinally 
Native Cabbage Butterfly. ribbed eggs are laid three 
or four on a single leaf. In a week or ten days the larvae 
are hatched. They live three weeks before becoming full- 
fed. The chrysalis state lasts from ten to twelve days. 
There is an early summer (May) brood and a late summer 
(July) brood of butterflies. 
While this kind feeds on the leaves of the cabbage and 
turnip, the Southern Cabbage Butterfly (Pieris Protodice), 
when in the caterpillar state, feeds on the outer leaves of 
the cabbage plant. It is often destructive in market gardens 
in the middle and southern states. But the injury done by 
our aboriginal butterflies is slight indeed compared with 
that resulting from the European species, which is usually 
20 
