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

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This sort of small caterpillar is green with black heads. They eat the stems and buds from the inside out, in the same way as can be seen on the lowest bud. When touched, they let themselves down on a thread, and they use the same thread to work their way back up. At the end of May, they turn into brown pupae; after fourteen days, little gold-shining butterflies emerge, which are very skilled at flying and, when disturbed, know how to hide very nicely under the leaves.

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On a leaf, a green caterpillar appears that stands almost upright. When touched, they swing their upper body back and forth. They hold on so firmly with their rear legs that one can hardly pull them loose without harming them. I fed them until the end of May, when they turned into brown pupae. After fourteen days, white, brown, and spotted butterflies emerged, as depicted at the bottom of the figure.

On a berry sits a small caterpillar, which is green in the middle, and the front and rear body are yellow and black-spotted. They are very harmful to this fruit. They molt several times and become more beautiful each time. At the end of May, they turn into pupae; after three weeks, yellow flies emerge, as is also depicted on this page.