Clever fellows

I've been watching our fennel plant so that i could document an example of one of the great mysteries and treasures of life, metamorphisis - in this case, of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Having denuded almost totally, but not completely, our fennel plant of flowers and tender branches, the monarch caterpillars suspend themselves in an inconspicuous place by a couple of fillaments of gossamer and go into a state of silent and motionless contemplation, preparation for their rebirth as a butterfly.

After a couple of days, they acquire an appearance remarkably like a fennel flower pod before it opens, or the sheath like part of the plant that covers the bifurcation of a fennel stalk, shown in the photo to the right. Clever fellows. In case you are wondering, the caterpillars left a few flower tops. These will go to seed and provide next year's food and shelter for the monarchs.

Footnote: apologies for the quality of the photos. I don't have a macro lens. These were shot with a Nikor 50mm 1.8, which has a minimum focusing distance of about 18".