To Catch a Cabbage White...On a Wing and a Prayer

To catch a cabbage white butterfly... It was early October and a gravid praying mantis, almost ready to deposit her ootheca, was hungry. She crawled behind a cactus in our yard, waiting for prey. It did not take long. A cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, fluttered down and made the fatal mistake of landing right next to Ms. Mantis. The rest, they say, is...dinner. Cabbage whites are in the news now because UC Davis distinguished professor Art Shapiro is sponsoring his annual...