Adding eggs to the basket

Around the time that the tortoise beetles were leaving their eggs on the bindweed, I found two small cabbage white butterflies laying lots of their own eggs in the garden.  Small cabbage whites are native to Europe, Asia, and north Africa -- and so too are the garlic mustard plants that they chose as hosts for their offspring.

A female small cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae) on a garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) leaf.

The butterflies fluttered from leaf to leaf, sometimes moving on quickly and sometimes pausing to lay a single egg before going off in search of the next suitable leaf.

A small cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae) egg.

The butterflies appeared to be spreading their eggs out amongst the available leaves, which made sense to me as a way of reducing the risks of predation, parasitism, and competition.  Therefore, I was surprised by what I found when I went to check on the eggs again later.

Now there are two small cabbage white butterfly eggs!

Where there had been just one egg, there were two eggs.  Even more surprisingly, where there had been two eggs...

Two small cabbage white butterfly eggs underneath a garlic mustard leaf.

...there were seven eggs!

Now there are seven small cabbage white butterfly eggs under the leaf.