[Update: Resized the image below so it isn't quite so ginormous]

Recently, I was tending to my garden and came across some caterpillars partaking of the tops of my carrots. They are Papilio Polyxenes, the Black or American Swallowtail Butterfly.

Here's one:

Just for kicks, I grabbed a couple and fed them for a few days and now they're starting to pupate. I watched this afternoon as the first one shed its skin and sealed itself up inside the shell. The second one has been hanging by that silk string for quite some time now. Assuming that it's still alive, it should be pupating within the next 24 hours or so.

On a lark, I decided to set up a cam to capture the metamorphosis in process. I've got YawCam running my Logitech QuickCam 9000, capturing an image every 60 seconds that I can then turn into a time lapse of the event. I've also got YawCam's HTTP function running so anyone can access an updating webcam. Take this linkto check out the cam. It will update every 10 seconds.

Enjoy!