Eggs are laid by the mother butterflies in distinct places on leaves to
avoid predators from feeding upon them. They hatch within two to three
days. The larvae will moult many times (on an average five) to become a
pupa. During the pupa stage, it does not feed and after a few days it
emerges as a butterfly. It waits for about 10 minutes to dry its wings
in the sun and then flutters away. The whole process to become an adult
may take a period of five weeks to two months. Then the butterfly will
live for about 2 weeks, and within the first few days, will lay only
one batch of eggs.
Moths are the ones that spin silk. No butterfly spins silk. There are
about 10,000 species of moths in the world-much more than butterflies.
Some butterflies and moths are poisonous e.g. the Crimson Rose, even
found in Goa. It is a butterfly with wings and a red body. It also has
red dots on its wings and black dots on its body. The smallest
butterflies are about a few centimetres in size and one of the biggest
butterflies is about the size of two palms put together.
At the end of the meeting Dr Gaonkar showed me some books on
butterflies and some papers written by him on the subject. At around
1.30 p.m. I took leave of him and left for MES College where I had an
appointment with Dr Leela for the same afternoon.
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