In the family of the _Pieridi_ we will mention many species remarkable in different ways, such as _Pieris cratægi_, the black-veined White, _Pieris brassicæ_, the Cabbage Butterfly, _Pieris napi_, _Pieris callidice_, _Anthocharis cardamines_, the Orange-tip, _Rhodocera_ (_Gonepteryx_) _rhamni_, and _Colias edusa_, or Clouded-yellow. _Pieris cratægi_ is white both above and below; the veins only of the wings are black, and become a little broader at the edge of the upper wings. These black veins on a rather transparent white ground make this butterfly resemble a gauze veil, hence its French name, _le gaze_. It flies in spring and summer in meadows and gardens, but is not generally common in England. In the first volume of his "Travels in the North of Russia," Pallas relates that he saw insects of this species flying in great numbers in the environs of Winofka, and that he at first took them for flakes of snow. The _Pieris cratægi_ fixes itself at sunset on flowers, where it is easily taken by the hand. During the day, on the contrary, it is difficult to catch. The larva, black at first, afterwards assumes short yellow and white hairs, but it varies much. They live in companies, under a silky web, in which they pass the winter. The leaves of the hawthorn, the sloe, the cherry tree, and of many other fruit trees, serve them for food. The pupa, yellow or white, and sometimes of both colours with little stripes and spots of black, is angular and terminated in front by a blunt point. [Illustration: Fig. 144.--Pieris brassicæ.] The _Pieris brassicæ_ (Fig. 144), or Cabbage Butterfly, is perhaps the commonest of all butterflies. From the beginning of spring till the end of autumn one sees it flying about everywhere, in the gardens, sometimes near and almost in the interior of towns. It is of a dull white, spotted and veined with black, and it can be seen at a long distance, when flitting from flower to flower, in a meadow or garden. And so children wage desperate war against this flying prey. The pursuit of the cabbage butterfly through the alleys of parks, along the outskirts of woods, or on the green turf of meadows, is the first joy and the first passion of children in the country. The caterpillar (Fig. 145) is of a yellowish green, or rather greenish yellow, with three yellow longitudinal stripes separated by little black points, from each of which springs a whitish hair. It lives in groups on the cabbages in gardens, and on many other Cruciferæ. It is so voracious that it consumes in a day more than double its own weight, and, as it multiplies very quickly, commits great ravages in the vegetable garden. Its pupa (Fig. 145) is of an ashy white, spotted with black and yellow. [Illustration: Fig. 145.--Caterpillar and Chrysalis of Pieris brassicæ.]