I took a walk when I first got home from New Mexico and found a cocoon beside the road which I took to the house and set in a mason jar with a piece of cheesecloth for a lid. Last week a beautiful moth with a wingspan of about four and a half inches emerged from the egg-shaped cocoon.
It is a Polyphemus moth, named for the one-eyed giant of Greek myth.
Would any of my grandchildren like to guess why it was named Polyphemus?
After taking it’s picture, I carefully carried it to the tall grass across the driveway and set it on a fat green spear of timothy. I was so grateful to have seen such a lovely thing.
