East Texas Quarterly Magazine Summer 2013 | Page 7

bodies and it remains in their system even after
metamorphosis. The Monarch’s bright orange and black
markings are thought to be a warning to birds that this
meal will taste very bad.
The Monarch eggs are smaller than a grain of rice, and
at first, you may not even notice the tiny caterpillars that
hatch. They are not wooly caterpillars; they are slick and
striped green, yellow and white. They feed voraciously
and double in size almost every day. At this point, many
gardeners become alarmed that the caterpillars are
stripping milkweed bare.
Never fear, milkweed has evolved in harmony with the
Monarch and will bounce back fuller and healthier than
before. Never spray a butterfly garden with anything
designed to kill caterpillars or the larval stage of any insect.
When they are fat and full enough, the caterpillar curls
into a j-shape and attaches itself to a plant (or any surface
that seems to offer some protection) and spins a chrysalis.
When we were kids, we called all such things “cocoons” but
actually it’s moths or spiders who make the fuzzy or
fibrous casings called cocoons.

Butterflies make a chrysalis, a slick casing for the pupa
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