Here it is in Florida; hot, sweaty, dirty, drought (although it did rain today), but we see butterflies! They have finally started building up in the number of species in our area. We're enjoying raising Phaon Crescent butterflies (just for fun) as well as Luna moths and the butterflies we normally raise at the farm.

As we raise our normal range of species (up to and over 30 species per year) we notice that some chrysalises are deformed a bit from various causes. This started us doing some research with these deformed chrysalises. A tedious task but very rewarding.

We are thankful for the wide range of visitors this spring. If you haven't had time to stop by the farm and plan to be in the area, please consider visiting us. But email first! Stephen and I won't be at the farm every day all the time. We want to be there to meet you.

Thanks bunches, Edith

Those flaws in your butterfly chrysalis - what do they mean? Will they affect the adult butterfly? If so, how will the adult be affected? (Note; the parts of an adult butterfly are clearly seen in the chrysalis.)

The chrysalis to the right (top) showed major damage to the right leg. The emerged adult was missing the entire leg. The second chrysalis had a dent in it's 'back'. The resulting adult Monarch had a matching dent in it's thorax.

At Shady Oak, we have photographed hundreds of flawed chrysalises and the resulting adult butterflies. We were shocked at the distorted chrysalises that still emerged as adult Monarchs; distorted adult butterflies. This brings up the question, "At what point should you freeze them and at what point should you emerge them?"

In nature, chrysalises are flawed due to rubbing against leaves, twigs, genetic flaws, other creatures touching the chrysalis, and multiple additional causes.

Some of the flaws we have studied are:

• Split proboscis
• Missing and twisted antennae
• Missing legs and parts of legs
• Deformed thorax
• Parts of brushfeet missing
• And more ...

This study has been and is a tedious one. Each chrysalis must be photographed individually with it's identifying number. It is immediately glued to the cup lid with its number. Each butterfly is emerged individually in its numbered cup. When the wings are dry, the butterflies are one-by-one removed from their cups and placed into glassine envelopes with the same identifying number. Each night these adult butterflies are compared to their chrysalis photo and adult flaws are photographed with the same identifying number. Each set of photos will be edited and the photographs named according to the butterfly's number. It's a task that is much larger and more time consuming than we imagined it could be. It will take several months to edit and compile all these photos and place them on appropriate web pages.

This spring we have raised thousands of Monarchs - maxing at over 4,000 in one week alone. From this huge number of Monarch chrysalises came the slightly to horribly deformed chrysalises we've studied this spring.

Please bookmark or favorite the webpage on our Educational Butterfly Website and visit it often for updates. Although we have hundreds of sets of photographs, we do not have the time needed to edit the photos and place them on the webpage as quickly as we'd like. This is the busy season at the farm and spare time is limited.

We assume all butterflies that use a silk 'girdle' or 'sling' would use a cremaster also. The Atala doesn't do so. When it pupates, it swings in the wind, like a trapeze artist on a trapeze.

Enter the caption contest to win a $20 gift card from Shady Oak Butterfly Farm.

Please send your suggestion to edith@buyabutterfly.com.

Elizabeth Mann is 15 years old. Elizabeth is a homeschooler, has taken college level courses, and she tutors her brother in third grade. She dances classical ballet at the Russian Academy of Ballet in Orlando, FL.

This spring Elizabeth started researching and raising Monarch butterflies. At present she has around 70 Monarch chrysalises in her new walk-in butterfly pavilion.

To keep her friends and family up to date on her butterfly experiences and research she has developed a blog, http://elizabethssecretgarden.blogspot.com/. Her blog also contains video footage she produced with her father on the "Life Cycle of a Monarch".

(This information about Elizabeth was supplied by her parents and approved to be shared through this newsletter.)

Shady Oak is pleased to offer one day seminars to one week internships at the butterfly farm.

Every aspect of butterfly breeding and farming is covered in this packed week. From breeding stock to egg production to larvae care to pupae care to emerging to adult care to predators to parasitoids to shipping and packing to marketing to plant production to plant pests to Lepidoptera disease to USDA permits to marketing to ....

A visit to the Butterfly Rainforest is included in a one week internship.

If you enjoy this newsletter, please share it with your friends. Every 100th new subscriber (and the person who recommended Butterflies!) will receive a gift from Shady Oak. The 1,100th and 1,200th subscribers have been notified and will receive their gifts shortly. We are now 28 subscribers short of 1,300. We do not subscribe any person unless they directly ask us to do so. Subscribers have subscribed to this newsletter from one of our websites or through another sign-up location.

The 1,000th subscriber wrote, "I received my thank you gift for being the 1000th person to sign up for the newsletter. It was way more than I expected. THANK YOU."

Photo right: the Smith clan (missing four due to work and illness).

Until next time, Edith, Stephen, Ester, Michelle, Christina, Rachel, and the gang