# Butterflew
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 2, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113 "2011-06-02T18:52:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113/1 "2011-06-02T18:52:49Z")
So late last fall, sweetie and I found a green and yellow and black stripey caterpillar munching on the dregs of his dying dill plants, popped it along with a couple of sprigs and twigs into a small terrarium, and presto, a day later there was a chrysalis there. We left it on a shelf in the garage over winter. Along about March, I put it out on the back porch; the websites I’d researched said if it survived, it’d emerge by mid-spring or so.
April came and went, cold and wet. Along about mid-May, I figured it had died over winter; I’d seen posts about the detailed care some people took of such things - keeping it in the fridge, making sure the temperature was steadily cold, spritzing it with distilled water once a week - and cringed a bit, was it really necessary to keep it moist? But I left the little plastic pot out there with the lid off, partly 'cause I was too lazy to throw it out right away and partly, you know, just in case.
Today, a lovely morning in the low 60’s, I stepped out onto the porch with a cup of coffee and the morning paper and looked down, and there it was, still floppy and clinging to the edge of the pot, an [Eastern Black Swallowtail.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/21791091@N03/5790616791/in/photostream#/photos/21791091@N03/5790616791/in/photostream/lightbox/) Well I’ll be.
Last I saw of it, it was [clinging to a branch](http://www.flickr.com/photos/21791091@N03/5790616791/in/photostream#/photos/21791091@N03/5791179534/in/photostream/lightbox/) of the yew I quickly set the pot next to, and looking considerably less soggy. I just checked a moment ago and it’s gone.
Day: brightened.
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### Author:  [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113/2 "2011-06-02T19:18:50Z")
That is very cool. And it’s a beautiful butterfly, too.
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113/3 "2011-06-02T19:38:49Z")
You have, once again, proved that hope springs eternal. You left that one, little, outside chance, just in case. Hope wins again. The reward is beauty.
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### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113/4 "2011-06-02T20:39:56Z")
Awwww! That made me happy. Thanks for posting!
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113/5 "2011-06-02T20:44:09Z")
Poo, the pictures won’t load in for me.
I was privileged enough the other day to see a [cinnabar moth](http://www.thegardenhelper.com/screensaver/flutterbys/graphics/cinnabarmoth.JPG). It was so beautiful - never seen one before, and had no idea it was a daytime moth until I googled the crap out of “red and black butterflies”.
Then a few days later I saw another one - and was marveling at its gorgeous coloring, when my cat leaped out of nowhere and ate its wings. ☹
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### Author:  [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113/6 "2011-06-02T20:49:18Z")
Nice Darth Maul coloring on that Cinnabar moth.
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### Author:  [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113/7 "2011-06-02T20:51:47Z")
Humph, try these links instead:
[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/21791091@N03/5790616791/in/photostream/)
[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/21791091@N03/5791179534/in/photostream/)
Lovely cinnabar moth! That reminds me of [something else](http://www.flickr.com/photos/21791091@N03/5791545318/sizes/l/in/photostream/) that dropped by a few days ago.
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113/8 "2011-06-02T21:26:21Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#):
>
> Humph, try these links instead:
>
> [P1010427 | sedshe | Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/21791091@N03/5790616791/in/photostream/)
> [http://www.flickr.com/photos/21791091@N03/5791179534/in/photostream/](http://www.flickr.com/photos/21791091@N03/5791179534/in/photostream/)
Gorgeous! Keep the cats away from him.
> [@](#):
>
> Lovely cinnabar moth! That reminds me of [something else](http://www.flickr.com/photos/21791091@N03/5791545318/sizes/l/in/photostream/) that dropped by a few days ago.
WTF?!
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### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113/9 "2011-06-02T22:09:15Z")
> [@jjimm](#):
>
> Gorgeous! Keep the cats away from him.WTF?!
Luna moth. Beautiful, relatively common Saturniid moth here in the US.
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### Author:  [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113/10 "2011-06-02T22:11:53Z")
How exciting! Thank you for sharing that. I needed a bit of cheering up this afternoon and your butterfly story totally helped.
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### Author:  [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2011, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113/11 "2011-06-03T06:09:41Z")
In the second picture she’s saying “I’m **pretty!** ”
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113/12 "2011-06-03T13:47:13Z")
> [@Ogre](#):
>
> Luna moth. Beautiful, relatively common Saturniid moth here in the US.
Damn I should have known that, having just read _Kavalier and Clay_.
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### Author:  [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113/13 "2011-06-03T13:49:13Z")
This is so cool! Thanks for posting this **Jenaroph**. Made my day! 😃
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### Author:  [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2011, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterflew/584113/14 "2011-06-03T14:02:55Z")
Lovely! Thanks for sharing!