toy caterpillars

[Ernest Williams]

Lep folks,

Increasing popular interest in butterflies has broadened to include
juvenile stages.  Recently I found toy caterpillars in a local store, and
it struck me as new that such items would be made and sell well.

The toys are pretty good models of 12 North American species.  They range
from very good (Papilio zelicaon, Anise Swallowtail), to some with minor
flaws (spines too short in Heliconius charitonius, Zebra Longwing), to a
few with off-coloration (Phoebis sennae, Cloudless Sulphur) or other flaws
(spines missing in Vanessa virginiensis, American Painted Lady).  I know
nothing about the company that produced them, Club Earth, but it has a nice
name.

Amy Wright's little guide is a nice source for those interested in
caterpillars, and now there are toys to decorate desktops with, too!  I
take the increasing popularity of juvenile stages as a good sign, along
with a lessening of the common disgust with "worms".

These are the only sightings I can report from the wintry landscape of
upstate New York (but south of the big ice storm).
 
Ernest