The Monarch

  1. butterfly deposits ovum onto the leaf
  2. instar larva leaves from the egg
  3. at which it grows into a caterpillar
  4. on the leaf still
  5. its skin striped yellow and black
  6. its head from the egg visible only at first
  7. pigment of orange and black to come
  8. black tentacles
  9. extending from the mature monarch body
  10. having emerged from the chrysalis.
  11. butterflies pupate
  12. they shed their cover
  13. they look different
  14. Can you monitor them?
  15. How can they defend themselves?
  16. Can they cut it?
  17. they consume their egg
  18. they stick to the Ascelpias' underleaf
  19. Do they notch the leaf?
  20. they hang on by a thread

- Peg L. Goldman
2006