“Then that’s all you have to do—just see whether [[341]]the antennæ end in a little round swelling,” said Jules.
“With something on the antennæ,” repeated Emile, “no cocoon; without that, a cocoon. How easy it is!”
“As the youngest and giddiest of my hearers has understood my explanation so well, I will pass on. Let us return to the butterfly whose caterpillar is so interesting to Jules because it eats indifferently cabbages, turnips, radishes, nasturtiums, and mignonette. This butterfly is very much like the cabbage-butterfly. It too is white, with black spots on the forward wings, but not of so deep a shade. Furthermore it is about a third smaller. It is called the radish-butterfly. To distinguish these two species, so much alike in coloring and both feeding on the same plants, gardeners call the former the big cabbage-butterfly, and the latter the little cabbage-butterfly.”
“I know those butterflies,” Jules interposed. “Many a time I’ve seen both kinds on the flowers in the garden, and I got them mixed because there is hardly any difference in their color. Now I shall know how to tell them apart. The larger one is the cabbage-butterfly, the smaller the radish-butterfly.”
“You must bear in mind that the words cabbage and radish used to designate the two butterflies do not mean that the caterpillar of the one eats exclusively cabbages and that of the other only radishes. As a matter of fact, the names could be reversed [[342]]without any impropriety, for both caterpillars, as occasion offers, feed on either the cabbage, the radish, the turnip, or some other cruciferous plant. But let it be noted also that these two terms have been chosen as substantially true to the facts, though likely to mislead if taken in too literal a sense.
“The same remark applies to a third species, the turnip-butterfly, whose caterpillar feeds not only on the leaves of turnip plants, but also on those of the nasturtium, the mignonette, the radish, cabbage, and many other crucifers. It is of about the size of the radish-butterfly, and its wings are white with greenish veins underneath. The forward wings have also black spots on their upper surfaces. The caterpillar is slightly hairy and of a uniform green color with no yellow stripes running lengthwise.” [[343]]
CHAPTER XLVII
FLIERS WITH WINGS OF GAUZE
Questioned as to the means to be adopted in order to protect from their insect enemies the various plants he had mentioned in his last talk, Uncle Paul was forced to acknowledge the inadequacy of any preventive measures at our command.