June 24, 2005

A follow-up to the caterpillar story. When I got home yesterday, the caterpillar in the jar had made a cocoon. It is greenish with some yellow spots down the back, and it is hanging from the parsley stem by a V-shaped web. When I checked on the garden I found only one well-fattened caterpillar left, so I fixed him up with a jar lest he become bird food.
As I couldn't find such detailed info in any of our books, I looked up caterpillars on the internet, and quickly found our particular spotted-striped-smooth type. They are black swallowtails! So exciting. They are described as eating only parsley or dill. How wonderfully discriminating.
I couldn't find how long they spend in the cocoon. I guess we will find that out by observation.