The Squirming Mass.

(Click on the image for full effect).

From a distance the food looks like some indeterminate lump of something green, but on closer inspection it is possible to see that the lump is, in fact, covered with a mass of constantly moving tiny brown hairy caterpillars. Underneath I can see that they are each eating away a small furrow and this is giving the mass a spongy texture.

As I move in closer it seems like the larvae are hovering in mid-air as if already they are spinning silk. Perhaps they are. They already move as their parents moved when searching for a place to spin: their hind quarters locked into position and their black heads, outlined by a paler thorax, circling the air, presumably sniffing for food. Perhaps they have chemical receptors that will react to only one thing: mulberry leaf.

Anyway, the whole effect is slightly revolting, so I just had to share it...

Added Later.

Looking at the photograph I can see now why the eggs grow darker. I'd thought it was just that the egg-case hardens and darkens as a consequence. But on closer study I think the darkening is due to the black caterpillar forming inside. The indentation in the surface is because it is curled around itself in a ring. The case of the egg, I think, remains translucent, and as the caterpillar grows it becomes more darkly pigmented.

Silkworm Babies!

To be honest I had given up on them. I had resigned myself to them not doing anything: the grey colouration of the eggs, I'd thought, was probably due to mould rather than anything that should be happening. True, I'd noticed that a few of the eggs seemed to have developed black spots, but I really thought they were all going to be duds (heh - obviously not my favourite expression).

But just half an hour a go I happened to take a look and to my great surprise and delight I saw that some of them had hatched!

(If you click on the picture you get a bigger picture of course, and can see their brown hairy bodies and shiny black heads, and the eggs which up close have the same shape as red blood cells).

The ruler underneath is showing centimetres with millimetre intervals - so they are very tiny, about 2 mm long. They seemed to be crawling quite rapidly looking for food - though when I tried to take a movie they didn't seem to be moving at all.

Very luckily I happened to have some food left over in the fridge so I added a few gratings very close to them. They seemed to start crawling towards it immediately, and when I looked a minute os so later they had crawled on top of it and were busy munching away. Since they eat a lot I thought I'd better get some more, but my supplier has gone on holiday, and an alternative number was answered by a woman who seemed to have her hands full looking after a screaming baby, so I am going to ring back later, and hope very much they can help.


Ah, such drama - who would have thought looking after a few caterpillers could be so exciting!