Red and white... candy stripes. (Click picture to enlarge)
“Once you can accept the universe as being something expanding into an infinite nothing which is something, wearing stripes with plaid is easy.” ~ Albert EinsteinPeppermint candy in red and white stripes is sweet and sugary as it slowly melts in your mouth; but other stripes in red and white are more "candy" for the eye than for the taste buds. And yet they are none the less bright and beautiful.
Clockwise from upper right: Black Swallowtail Caterpillar (Papilio polyxenes asterius Stoll); Forest Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria);
Monarch Caterpillar (Danaus plexippus ); and Tomato Hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata).
All of these creatures can "change their stripes". The black swallowtail caterpillar goes through several color changes during its growth, adding stripes and brighter color and in doing so, closely mimic the monarch caterpillar with yellow, black, green and white stripes. These two change into beautifully marked and colored butterflies. The tomato hornworm will strip and eat the leaves off of a tomato plant overnight.. it did to mine. It too can change into a large moth, the five spotted hawk-moth and while the colors are shades of brown, there is an almost marbling effect of the color on the wings that is quite handsome. Unfortunately, the most colorful of all the caterpillars here, the forest tent caterpillar... uses all of its pizzaz here. I love the stripes of red and yellow and turquoise blue and the intricate black pattern with stark white along the top. However, this caterpillar can be a severe pest for the hardwood forests and the moth is buff tan and bland and pales in comparison. While I prefer the end product of the swallowtail and monarch caterpillars, I cannot help but be entranced by the colors and undulating movement of the stripes as they slowly move across a twig like a swaying belly dancer.
The Saturday Photo Hunt theme for today is.... you guessed it.... stripes!
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Saturday Photo Hunt
