CLOSED: what insect does this?

I looked through as many of the pages as i could..and have not yet been able to find the identification for an insect which is greatly damaging( destroying) my leafy vegetables.

i have been trying to grow kale , and mesclun ~ both of whose leaves in two small beds, are now almost "non- existent" in that most of the leaves have been eaten, gnawed, and nibbled..
all that remains are some stems and a few leaves with disgusting little masses of green guck.. which i guess are eggs.( please tell me if this is so)

What insect is doing this,?
and well, if you would be so kind, would you direct me to a thread or some information as to how i can keep these insects them off my kale and tender greens

many thanks
alice

It could be a moth or butterfly caterpillar, but without a picture it's hard to know. Can you get a picture of it? It may be hiding under the leaves or just come out at night...do you have a flashlight?

can you tell if i take a picture of the yucky egg masses.??

i have seen nothing flying in my garden except for some of those white (pure white) moths..but i did not see any of those near these particular plants.

That is the reason i posted the question here.
i think if i had a picture , i could probably go to some identification site.

but it seems that it should be fairly easy to identify by
#1.the plant it enjoys:kale
and
#2.the way it attacks the plant.( chews the leaves all around..and leaves only stems,stripped)
and
#3.the gooey green masses of what appear to be eggs on the remaining leaf bits.

PLEASE SOMEONE.!
if you have a moment..tell me what it is and what i can do about it.
i have lost most of my crop.
but there may be hope to save something.
i guess everyone is out gardening so no one is at the computer.
sigh
alice

Alice, there's a Cabbage White butterfly that likes plants in the Cabbage family, like Kale.

You might Google and see if you can find pics of the eggs.

Here's a pic of the butterfly:

http://www.monarchprogram.org/insects/cabbagewhite.htm

If it's so easy to id then why don't you know what it is?

in response to your question:
"if it is so easy to id, then why don't you know what it is?"

my response:
cuz i have not seen it !!
(is that obvious or what ??)

i am sorry if my whole question and threads and replies were so difficult to understand..i did the best i could...to make my problem and predicaments understood.

i have not seen the insect. only the damage..
if there was some way to identify the insect by the damage, i would do so.
i was hoping there might be someone knowledgeable enough to be able to do so because i am not.

many thanks
alice

Maybe nobody else can tell you what it is either, but I think fly girl has given you a very likely suspect - but there are hundreds of insects (and slugs?) that could do what you describe.

You should post this in the Garden Pests and Diseases forum too, there may be ways to protect your plants no matter what the pest is. Personally I don't grow much in the way of veggies or leafy veggies, so I'm sorry I can't help with that.

If it were me, I'd do some more reconnaiscance - the police here know it's me poking around in the garden with a flashlight late at night! I had a jar of slugs to show them, so it was pretty believable.