Show nature has qualified butterfly as chemist in a report to the sm in ution dr austin II 11 clark mar vels and with reason at the curious adaptability of the cabbage butterfly a small chalky insect with white wings in europe the caterpillars feed on the leaves of cabbages and closely related plants why these because they contain food of the proper chemical composition for the young and the young are bred from eggs laid on the leaves about the middle of the la t cen tury the cabbage butterfly was brought to this country it began to lay eggs not only on cabbage but also on the leaves of the garden nasturtium which originally came from central and south america how did the butterfly know that the nasturtium Is chemically of the right composition although it Is not even remotely related to the cabbage the european Lur ancestors of the cab bage butterfly knew nothing of the nasturtium for thousands of genera eions the wonder grows when doctor dark clark points out uncanny powers in other insects two varieties of fritillaries live entirely on the hack berry tree it if they make a mistake in the free tree the young starve to death new york times |