You must often have noticed this very pretty insect flying about in the spring, for it is quite common in almost all parts of the country. And you cannot possibly mistake the male for any other butterfly, because of the large patch of orange-yellow at the tips of the front wings. But the female is without this orange patch, so that you might easily take her for one of the small white butterflies. If you can look at her closely, however, you will notice that in the middle of her front wings she has a small black spot shaped just like the crescent moon, and that the lower surface of her hind-wings is marbled with yellowish-green. The caterpillar of this pretty butterfly feeds upon cuckoo-flower, or “lady’s smock,” as it is sometimes called, and also upon hedge-garlic, tower mustard, and yellow rocket. In colour it is green, with a white stripe running along each side of its body. When it is fully fed it fastens itself by a silken belt to the stem of its food-plant, and turns into a long, slender, greenish-brown chrysalis, shaped like a bow, from which the butterfly appears in the following May. [Illustration: PLATE XV 1. Orange Tip, Male 2. Orange Tip, Female] PLATE XVI THE LARGE WHITE (1 and 2) This is a very common butterfly indeed, and even in towns you may often see it flying about. Indeed it is much too common, for its caterpillars feed upon the leaves of cabbages and cauliflowers, to which they sometimes do most terrible mischief. I dare say that you have seen these plants so stripped by the caterpillars of “Garden Whites,” as these butterflies are often called, that they look just like skeletons, only the mid-ribs and the veins being left remaining. And in some summers these caterpillars are so plentiful that hardly a single cabbage or cauliflower escapes. You can easily recognise this butterfly by its size; and you can tell the female from the male by the two black spots and the narrow black streak upon her front wings. The caterpillar is green in colour, shaded on each side with yellow, and is dotted all over with tiny black spots, from each of which springs a hair. When it has reached its full size it leaves its food-plant, fastens itself to a wall, or a fence, or a door-post, or the trunk of a tree, and turns into a rather stout bluish-white chrysalis, sprinkled with blackish spots. The butterfly may be seen in May, and again in August. PLATE XVI THE SMALL WHITE (3 and 4)