Monday 28 June 2010

BUTTERPILLAR ALASTAIRENSUS

What fun it is to see the garden through the eyes of Little People! Wee Alastair (2 1/4 years) is fascinated with things that fly and crawl in the garden. He is often seen peering into the bushes (when his is not shredding them) and shouting "spider"! It could be an ant, a dragonfly, a moth or ... yes, even a spider. He likes to watch them scurry about their business. Well, it keeps him out of mischief for a whole 2 minutes!


When I arrived at the house yesterday he came running up the steps to greet Iain and I "Grandma .....Grandpa". Before he got to the top, he stopped and pointed shouting "Butterpillar"!

I didn't actually see the creepy crawly because (1) I was laughing so hard and (2) it was hidden to me.

I just love the word "Butterpillar"! Now just because we have never seen one doesn't mean to say it doesn't exist. Therefore to help things along I conjured up a picture of what one might look like. I got the images off Wikipedia* which was easy (and a wonderful diversion).

I have given this new species Alastair's name. If it catches on it might go some way to providing a counter-weight to the other names that he is sometimes called by all of us ... "Alastair Here Comes Trouble" and "Alastair You've Ruined It"!

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* Butterfly: Wikipedia; Papilio demodocus (Citrus Swallotail). Pictured in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Muhammad Mahdi Karim, January 2009

* Catepillar: Wikipedia; Papilio machaon [Schwalbenschwanz (Raupe)] Photo taken by Eric Steinert at Paussac, France, August 2005.


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