excitedWell, we took it with us to Hutch, where we put it in a glass vase. I noticed some black spots when we first found it, but didn't know if that was color coming in, or going out or a bruise or what. I rather suspected we had a dead chrysalis on our hands, or one that wouldn't hatch until spring, but, hey, who cares.
When I checked on it last night, there seemed no change.
When I checked on it this morning (7:30) it was dark and I thought it had died. A closer look revealed that it had just gained butterfly colors! Over night. And they were black and gold! Could this be a monarch? or was it a viceroy?
At about 7:45 my mother says 'it hatched' and I run in to see, indeed, it hatched! It was desperately trying to climb the glass, so I went and got it a stick, which it happily climbed and commenced the important business of filling it's wings. Thomas was a sleep at the time and almost didn't want to get up to see it. After a quick look, he headed back to bed. LOL
Using pictures from the encyclopedia for "butterfly" (with a monarch and a viceroy right next to each other) I now know it is a monarch, and a very pretty one, too. I put it on the back porch so it can fly off whenever. It was still there when I looked at about 10.
