collection collective: my life...

first,
i just wanted
to thank you
all for your
sweet comments.
it's so
wonderful to hear
that you all
are inspired
by the same things!
sometimes
you look
at something
and love it
and wonder
if it's just you...
.
thank you.
you all
are
my inspiration.

second,
the photo
above
was taken
in 1979.
i don't
remember it
but that's me.
i look
at it and
think how
strange
life can be.
because
i have spent
the last
5 years
running
around
with a
butterfly net.

once upon
a time
i planned
on pursuing
a career
in the arts
but i think
i didn't believe
in myself
enough then...
i was
the youngest
in my family
and my brothers
and sister
were so talented
that
i never felt
i was
a good enough
artist
compared
to them.
maybe if i had
been
a true artist
it wouldn't
have mattered.

but my other
great love was
biology-
animals
in particular...
i first fell
in love
with insects
when i was
still
considering
the art path.
i became
fascinating
with
the amazing
beauty
and
bizareness
of
insects.

today
the official
end of
my summer
and
my collecting
season
(so i can focus
on studying)
i thought
i'd share
with you
my favorite
caterpillars-
which are now
a big part
of
my life...
so maybe you
can see
why it's so easy
for an artist
to fall in love
with insects.

most of you
probably
think of
a caterpillar
and think
of this...
but when
i think
of caterpillars
i think of
some of
my favorites-
usually
i put hearts
on the cups
to denote
my favorites
in the lab:
.

so here is
a collection collective
of a few
of the
caterpillars
that
i have collected:


the saddleback,
Acharia stimulea.
i still can't
really believe
it's
a caterpillar.
they look like
little
aliens.
they sting
like hell
if you touch
the spines.
we make
[not really]
our interns
touch them-
it's like
caterpillar hazing.
................
the flannel
caterpillar,
Megalopyge crispata.

a new favorite
of mine.

they look
like this
when they
are little:

hard to
believe
they are
the same
caterpillar!
................
the io moth
caterpillar,
Automeris io

can also
sting a bit.
................
i like how
they curl up
in little
fuzzy balls:

american dagger moth,
Acronicta americana.
................

the unicorn
caterpillar,
Schizura unicornis.
see,
even caterpillars
can have
a unicorn!
................

and this
little guy
proves
that
caterpillars
can have
a bad hair day:

................

so these
are just
a few
of my
quite large
collection
of caterpillars.
i hope you
enjoyed
the little tour!

check out
more collections
here!
xo