and watch for the mosquitoes to appear. After collecting
several mosquitoes examine them for number of wings, legs and markings
and see if all have the slender sucking tube. The males have large
feathery feelers, but no sucking tube.

Write a brief description of the wiggler and the mosquito, their
breeding places and means of destroying them. Make drawings of the
different stages, wiggler, pupa and mosquito.

CHAPTER VI

THE CABBAGE MILLER

"_And here and yonder a flaky butterfly
Was doubting in the air._"

--MCDONALD.

With the first approach of spring comes swarms of large green flies
which bask in the March sun on the south sides of buildings. They are
not with us long, however, until we notice flashes of white quickly
moving about from one early weed to another. These are the advance
guards of the cabbage millers or butterflies. All through the cold
winter they remained in the chrysalis stage stuck to the sides of
houses, fence posts and in other protected places, awaiting the first
breath of spring. The first adults to emerge find no cabbage on which
to lay their eggs so they are compelled to use other plants such as
pepper grass.

[Illustration: Egg of cabbage miller much enlarged.]

The eggs are very small and are usually placed on the lower edge of the
leaf. These hatch and the small green worms appear. Throughout the
summer there are a number of broods produced and an enormous amount of
damage is done. Just before frost the last caterpillars search for
protected places where they pass to the pupal or resting stage for the
winter. No cocoon is spun by this caterpillar.

Where measures are not taken to control the cabbage worms they destroy
much of the cabbage crop each season. The white butterflies can be seen
any day during the summer visiting cabbage, mustard, radishes and other
similar plants. By destroying all of the worms and millers in the early
spring one has less trouble later. This can be done by hand picking, or
where the patch is large by spraying with a poison solution to which
soap is added to keep the solution from rolling off in large drops.
Poison can be used until the heads are well formed, but if the first
worms in the spring are destroyed, later spraying is unnecessary though
an occasional handpicking will help.

OBSERVATIONS AND STUDY

[Illustration: Cabbage worm feeding, slightly enlarged.]

Go into the garden and ex