A Few of FR's Finest...Every Day...03-15-06....Butterflies !! The "Pretty" Bugs!

DollyCali | March 15, 2006 | DollyCali

[DollyCali]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.

On Mondays please visit us to see photos of A FEW OF FR'S VETERANS AND ACTIVE MILITARY

If you have a suggestion, or an idea, or if there's a FReeper you would like to see featured, please drop one of us a note in FR mail.

We're having fun and hope you are!
~ Billie, dutchess, DollyCali GodblessUSA ~

Butterfly Facts

Did you know?

,,,that butterflies taste with their feet?

... that butterflies don't have noses? They smell with their antennae!

. . . that butterfly wings are covered with tiny scales? Different colored scales make up the pretty patterns we see.

... that butterflies are cold-blooded? The dark colors on their wings help them absorb the heat from the sun.

... that some butterflies wear camouflage? The wings of many butterflies have colors and patterns that blend in with their natural surroundings to protect them from predators.

... that butterflies can see ultraviolet light? Some scales on butterfly wings reflect light that is invisible to humans. Butterflies use these ultraviolet patterns to recognize each other.

... that a butterfly's mouth is like a drinking straw? That's because butterflies only eat liquid foods, like nectar from flowers or fruit. The mouth, called a proboscis, stays rolled up until it's time to eat.

... that a butterfly wasn't always a butterfly? Every butterfly starts as a tiny egg that hatches into a caterpillar)larvae). The caterpillar grows and grows until it's time to build a hardened shell around its body, called a chrysalis. While the caterpillar sleeps inside the (pupae) chrysalis, its body changes and grows new parts. When it comes out, it has become a butterfly, quite a different creature than a caterpillar!

Two weeks after hatching, the Monarch butterfly is 3,000 times its original birth weight. ..

The color in a butterfly's wings does not come from pigment. The color is produced prism-like by light reflected by their transparent wing scales..

The world’s smallest butterfly is the Pygmy Blue.  Its wingspan ranges between three eighths to half an inch in length. The largest butterfly in the world is the Giant Birdwing from the Solomon Islands. The female can have a wing span of over 12 inches..

Butterflies have an honed sense of smell and can detect nectar from miles away.  When they sense the blossoming of a plant they thrive on, they will travel for hours to reach it..

Butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature is less than 86 degrees

To A Butterfly (second) by William Wordsworth

'VE watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless!not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!

This plot of orchard-ground is ours;
My trees they are, my Sister's flowers;
Here rest your wings when they are weary;
Here lodge as in a sanctuary!
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the bough!
We'll talk of sunshine and of song,
And summer days, when we were young;
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.

Written in the orchard, Town-end, Grasmere.

From Cocoon Forth a Butterfly

FROM cocoon forth a butterfly
As lady from her door
Emerged—a summer afternoon—
Repairing everywhere,

Without design, that I could trace,
Except to stray abroad
On miscellaneous enterprise
The clovers understood.

Her pretty parasol was seen
Contracting in a field
Where men made hay, then struggling hard
With an opposing cloud,

Where parties, phantom as herself,
To Nowhere seemed to go
In purposeless circumference,
As ’t were a tropic show.

And notwithstanding bee that worked,
And flower that zealous blew,
This audience of idleness
Disdained they, from the sky,

Till sundown crept, a steady tide,
And men that made the hay,
And afternoon, and butterfly,
Extinguished in its sea.

Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924

Another Song of a Fool

THIS great purple butterfly,
In the prison of my hands,
Has a learning in his eye
Not a poor fool understands.

Once he lived a schoolmaster
With a stark, denying look,
A string of scholars went in fear
Of his great birch and his great book.

Like the clangour of a bell,
Sweet and harsh, harsh and sweet,
That is how he learnt so well
To take the roses for his meat.

W.B. Yeats (1865–1939). The Wild Swans at Coole. 1919.

Butterfly Screen Saver

Kids Butterfly Site

The Butterfly Site

Greta oto is one of a number of similar transparent winged butterflies. It comes from central America, and is found from Mexico to Panama. It is quite common in its zone, but it not easy to find because of its transparent wings, which is a natural camouflage mechanism.

Greta oto is a brush-footed butterfly, and is a member of the clearwing clade; its wings are transparent. Its most common English name is glasswing, and its Spanish name is espejitos, which means "little mirrors." Indeed, the tissue between the veins of its wings looks like glass. It is one of the more abundant clearwing species in its home range. The opaque borders of its wings are dark brown sometimes tinted with red or orange, and its body is dark in color. Its wingspan is between 5.5 and 6 cm.

Adults inhabit the rainforest understory and feed on the nectar of a variety of tropical flowers. G. oto prefers to lay its eggs on plants of the tropical nightshade genus Cestrum. The silvery-gray caterpillars feed on these toxic plants and store the alkaloids in their tissues, making them distasteful to predators such as birds. They retain their toxicity in adulthood. The same alkaloids that make them poisonous also are converted into pheromones by the males, which use them to attract females..

G. oto adults also exhibit a number of interesting behaviors, such as long migrations and lekking among males..

Greta oto Scientific classification

Domain:--- Eukaryota
Kingdom: ---Animalia
Phylum:--- Arthropoda
Class---: Insecta
Order:---Lepidoptera
Suborder: ---Ditrysia
Division:--- Rhopalocera
Superfamily: ---Papilionoidea
Family: ----Nymphalidae
Subfamily: ---Ithomiinae
Genus: ---Greta
Species:--- G. oto

12-28-05 ~ Hall of Fame #14

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 03-13-06 Military Monday 03-14-06....A Finest Pet Day ~ The Doggie Dictionary

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' Every Thursday at the Finest The guy's good, folks!

[freema]

I love that song!!

[DollyCali]

champagne bubbles

angel dust?

[DollyCali]

Actually Victoria is the resident song mistress here.. I am not sure there are many butterfly or caterpillar songs however! Just Amy & Aquamaine do song also..

[freema]

Going along, enjoying the cute poem, but you should have seen my face and hear me when I saw that caterpillar. LOLOLOL!

[Majie Purple]

Oh I know...I wasn't confused but Dolly did ping me a repost of your blue butterfly & flower to her in 144 when I think she still didn't realize it was from you to her! Not me, I know...FYI to all...When in doubt one can also view comments listed under specific posts...To better follow the comment timeline and flow...

[freema]

Gosh, as I am running thru the thread, my first thought when I saw that was crack/cocaine/angeldust! I must be tired ; )

[freema]

Thanks. No time to play in the sandbox, for getting thru the thread. I'll be out of town for several days, too : (
Actually, heading your way!!

[Miss Marple]

Thanks, for the ping Dolly, but I had the flu. As far as I know, quitting smoking doesn't make you run a fever and get a sinus infection, as well as a backache and chills.

My husband got a bad reaction to quitting, but it went more to depression and associated physical ailments like sleepiness and irrational anger.

[NicknamedBob]

Shucks. I almost forgot about this one. (I'll just steal some graphics here ...)

Butterflight

Soar on the wings of eagles? Or dragonflies? No, not.
The luna moth of Doctor's fame must never be forgot.
I'd choose a butterfly for me, to dance about the day,
My mini-bucking bronco, fluttering each and every way.

It would be fascinating, to hiccup as we glide,
And dusting flakes of rainbow onto people as we ride.
The butterfly, a gentle soul, seeking sweetest nectar,
Daintly dipping in to sip, I think we all respect her.

And children would be looking up, and laughing as we go,
And grown-ups too, would shyly smile, enjoying us also.
I'd carry along wind chimes, like sleigh bells for the sun,
The tinkling music fills the air behind us when we're done.

What else could I take along? Some perfumes for the nose?
I'd spread them out, as we flutter about, and fill the air with Rose.
And Lilac, other sweetness, to sprinkle as we fly,
'Til dogs would all be sneezing, and smile as we go by.

And if your spirits lifted from the turbulence of my wake,
I hope you understand it was exactly for that's sake.
One day perhaps we all can laugh, and love, and sigh,
In spirit-lifting loveliness, 'til all of time goes by.


NicknamedBob . . . . . . . . . . February 15, 2004

[Chanticleer]

Beautiful! She loved the pics this morning.

[NicknamedBob]

Post 239 if daughter is still up ...

[NicknamedBob]

Oops, post number 229 ping.

[DollyCali]

When my dad had his heart attack (he was my age) he was a 3 pack + a day smoker.. of course it was cold turkey - he was unconscious for about 8 days -& boy oh boy did he ever have withdrawal symptoms. I felt so badly that they had to tie him to the bed in hospital to restrain him, his body shook & flailed so violently.

It was so funny that afterward about a week or so later he was complaining about the nurses smoke at the nurse's station.!

lol

My brother stopped w/o a problem in his early 20s.. heavy smoker also.. I guess everyone's body is different in their response . Perhaps it might have something to do with the brand they smoke? I am guessing that each one is a little different in the components?

[DollyCali]

oh good.. she can hopefully come back to the thread now & then to enjoy the various pix..

[DollyCali]

nice one! that looks a little like a mama_bear work of art!

[DollyCali]

coming this way.. goodie... FReepmail

[NicknamedBob]

"... that looks a little like a mama_bear work of art!"

My shameless theft from upthread ...

[DollyCali]

My shameless theft from upthread ...

here let me fix that for you...

My shameless theftBORROWING from upthread ...

[DollyCali]

that is a beautiful pix Meg.. think it is a butterfly plant also.. There is so much material posted here for tables..I have found so many more backgrounds that are really nice also.. your contributions are always ones of beauty. Thank you!

[DollyCali]

I goofed up my previous post, FRiends, in case anyone wonders what the deleted post was!

and I thought the Viking cat(apillar) got it!!!!