Survival of larvae of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) was reduced on several genotypes of cabbage from the breeding program at Geneva, N.Y. Polar fractions of ethanol extracts of partially resistant lines 2535 and 2503, when incorporated into diet, reduced survival of P. xylostella larvae by 14.9 and 19.0%, respectively. Whether this effect was due to reduced feeding or postingestive toxicity was not determined. Although survival on glossy-leafed line 2518 was very low in the field and larvae on this line failed to form visible feeding mines during the first 72 h after egg hatch, extracts from 2518 had no activity. Survival of larvae confined on leaf disks of 2518 in the laboratory was much greater (80% of controls) than it was on whole plants in the field (0.36% of controls). In the field, neonate P. xylostella dispersed two to three times more rapidly on the leaves of 2518 than on other lines. Resistance to P. xylostella in the lines investigated was therefore due to at least two mechanisms, (1) antibiosis or nonpreference due to extractable compounds present in normal bloom resistant cabbage genotypes, 2503 and 2535, and (2) possible nonpreference for glossy-leafed 2518 by neonate larvae, as suggested by the greater dispersal rates of neonates on these plants. Survival is relatively high on 2518 in leaf disk bioassays in the laboratory, suggesting that nonpreference in combination with environmental stresses to larvae in the field may produce P. xylostella resistance in the glossy 2518.