(See Dr. Holland's
"Butterfly Book," Plate XLI.) The yellow stage of this
caterpillar (which William Hamilton Gibson calls the "spice-bush
bugaboo") indicates, he says, that "its period of transformation
is close at hand. Selecting a suitable situation, it spins a tiny
tuft of silk, into which it entangles its hindmost pair of feet,
after which it forms a V-shaped loop about the front portion of
its body, and hangs thus suspended, soon changing to a chrysalis
of a pale wood color. These chrysalides commonly survive the
winter, and in the following June the beautiful 'blue
swallow-tail' will emerge, and may be seen suggestively
fluttering and poising about the spice and sassafras bushes."
After the eggs she lays on them hatch, the caterpillars live upon
the leaves. Mrs. Starr Dana says the leaves were used as a
substitute for tea during the Rebellion; and the powdered berries
for allspice by housekeepers in Revolutionary days.
GREATER CELANDINE; SWALLOW-WORT
(Chelidonium majus) Poppy family
Flowers - Lustreless yellow, about 1/2 in.
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