Cabbage-moth

Cabbage-moth (Mamestra brassicae), a species of moth, the caterpillar of which feeds on cabbage and turnip leaves, and is sometimes very destructive. The caterpillar is greenish-black, and changes to a chestnut chrysalis in autumn. The perfect insect is predominantly of a rich mottled-brown colour, with beautiful markings. The winter chrysalids should be destroyed when turned up in digging; the voracious grubs should be picked away from the cabbages, and the stems may be very profitably protected by making a ring in the ground with spirit of tar, quicklime, or best of all, gas-lime.