New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 405 
cloudy days, or late in the afternoon and early evening. Some- 
times they will be seen at flowers, but usually these are male 
moths. If the female moth is noticed on the wing, she is usually 
darting rapidly from one plant to another hiding under the leaves 
to deposit her eggs. The eggs are usually deposited singly, but 
occasionally 3 or 4 eggs will be found in close proximity on 
the same leaf. ach moth lays about the same number of eggs 
as does the cabbage butterfly. On Long Island the first eggs are 
deposited on the same plants as are those of the cabbage butterfly, 
and on chickweed and spinach in addition. Later in the season 
they apparently are not confined to any particular plants while 
_depositing their eggs. The fact that they are swift flyers and are 
dusky colored probably accounts for their not being seen during 
the day. Some writers claim that the moths of the cabbage 
looper are night flyers. They surely do considerable flying dur- 
ing the day, and I have been unable to capture them at light- 
traps. This would indicate that they are no more night flyers 
than is the moth of the corn worm. 
Feeding habits.— The loopers will feed on almost any plant that 
is succulent and tender, showing very little choice while food is 
plentiful. After midsummer when food becomes scarce they do 
their principal feeding upon cauliflower, lettuce and cabbage, but 
they are not averse to feeding upon any of the following eco- 
nomic plants: Siberian kale (“ sprouts”), kale, broccoli, Brussels 
sprouts, rape, spinach, celery, tomatoes, cannas, chrysanthemums, 
carnations, smilax, heliotrope, pelargoniums and various other 
forcing house plants. They are especially destructive to lettuce 
in foreing houses, where they, will feed and breed all winter. 
Although they will feed upon almost anything that is green they 
always show a dislike for old, tough leaves and for leaves that 
have any foreign substance on the surface. In fact they will 
not feed upon such leaves unless starved to do so. In eases 
where cabbage is treated with a dry insecticide it is an easy matter 
for them to find portions of the plant that are not covered with 
