Maria Sibylla Merian — Der rupsen begin, voedzel en wonderbaare verandering (1712)

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Buttercups. Ranunculus pratenſis Meadow Buttercup.

I fed such variegated caterpillars with these greens until the month of June, when they turned into a black pupa, from which a beautiful butterfly emerged, whose upper wings were light yellow with black dots, and the lower wings were orange-colored and adorned with black stripes.

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Chervil. Cerefolium Garden Chervil.

This herb is the food of a green, white-striped, smooth caterpillar. I fed them until the end of May, when they made a thin cocoon and turned into a chestnut-brown pupa. After fourteen days, a brown owlet-moth came out of it, as depicted in the figure.

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Miraculous caterpillars. Vermes miraculoſi Miraculous worms.

I found these two large caterpillars, which differ from one another in form and color, in the grass, which is their food. They transform in the ordinary way, spinning themselves in and changing their shape into a gray pupa, after which a large dark-orange owlet-moth emerged from each, which were almost identical to one another in every way.