Earlier I caught one of these guys chomping on my tomatoes:
I had noticed some of the stems and tops had been chewed off, but I blamed the squirrels which have plagued me. Yet at the same time, this didn’t seem like squirrel behavior; even if they had chewed on the tops of the plants, they’d have broken and bent them down with their weight. But the cutting was pretty radical for a bug, at least so I thought until I saw the size of the caterpillar.
I put it in a jar with a few leaves, and decided that at sundown he would be frog chow. My Pacman frog was delighted with the very large treat, and here he, Frogbert (or she, Frogberta) is, swallowing the last of the tail end:
It was a bit sad to see such a beautiful caterpillar meet his end, but hey, the frog has to eat too, and I can’t very well let my tomatoes get munched by a caterpillar. Besides, even if it had lived to metamorphose into a moth, it would probably never have been as famous as its very close relative that was dressed up and featured in “The Silence of the Lambs.”
The Tobacco horn worm moths used throughout the film were given celebrity treatment by the filmmakers. They were flown first class to the set (in a special carrier), had special living quarters (rooms with controlled humidity and heat) and were dressed in carefully designed costumes (body shields bearing a painted skull and crossbones).
Not this time.
But I think this calls for a song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR9VcSfW76A
Comments
7 responses to “The silence of my caterpillar”
The significance of the moth is change…caterpillar into chrysalis (or pupa), from thence into beauty. Our Billy wants to change too.
I love quoting silence of the lambs.
Those were the moths in Silence of the Lambs? The things you learn.
When I see those suckers on my tomatoes I cut them in two.
Silly silly song…does the band change into a real band at the end???
Actually, the band continued on their own, but Janis Joplin continued into something more than a band.
That photo of the frog eating the caterpillar reminded me of a photo of a seal eating a penguin.
Your life line is solid and well defined. Not that that means anything.