E. baptisiae is my first choice also. However, I'm open to E. persius because of the golden spots on the underside hindwing submargin. The Persius is a less common species, so I'm hesitant to mention it. I wonder whether there's a local expert who might shed some light? Whatever, it's a male. The butterfliesandmoths.org species descriptions for both species say, "Male has a costal fold containing yellow scent scales." That sounds like the yellow lines I see on your picture above. Check out the pics below just for their sheer coolness. Jeff Here is a link that might be useful: Persius Duskywing

To bananasinohio I actually raised the tigers on a few different host plants. I built a decent size flight house in my yard in the spring and i filled it with overwintered tigers and they were happy to lay about 200 eggs in there. I filled it with host plants so I can test their preferences. My results, 1 being the the most preferred were: 1. Tulip Tree 2. White Ash 3.Hop Tree 4.Green Ash 5. Wild Black Cherry 5.Magnolia(not sweetbay) 6. Willow 7.Spicebush I also used chokecherry(prunus virginiana) but they wouldn't lay on there. Willow and Spicebush were not well liked by them also. I would not plant willow or spicebush to attract tigers. I also had 2 eggs layed on a lemon tree which was a mistake because the larva did not survive long. Tulip Tree was the best host plant for egg laying and larval growth. I couldn't find any sweetbay at local nurseries but I just found some last week so I will test that when this batch emerges. I used a magnolia tree and their larva survived on there so if anyone is wondering eastern tigers will use magnolia trees. I will let you know the results with sweetbay. Here's a pic of the caterpillar on magnolia. sorry if its blurry http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad164/frankiebf/larva.jpg

kc, Glad to hear that the GST left you some eggs. It seems like they start out slow and then after a few days they really go gangbusters. The female was here again today laying more eggs. Oh, I think about 2009 was the last time that I saw a Viceroy too, either that or 2010 but I know for sure that none was here last year. Good luck with your cat raising. I've never raised any Polys. Susan, Ha, yeah, that's a good way to describe the PVS and GST in a race! :-D It was slow here for the longest time in the way of butterflies, but now they're finally showing up here and they're so fun to watch! I'd love to see some Gorgone Checkerspots! You're lucky that you get those and Gulf Fritillaries. I plant passionvines but I'm almost certain that I'll never see any frits on them other than VFs. I think about you a lot too. You ought to see how my pussytoes and pipevines have grown...many many times their original size! They feed lots of cats, and as a matter of fact my son was walking past the pipevine today and spotted a bunch of little piggies, and now I also have 22 PVS to raise. Oh, and counting the 27 GST eggs that I collected today (mostly off the gas plants), I have 56 GSTs to raise. When I have GSTs and PVSs to raise, the Monarchs take a back seat, but I do have several dozen of those too. Christie, I hope that you soon get some GSTs to raise. It is actually pretty hard for me to spot eggs on the rue flower heads. I have to look out over my glasses or else take them off (gotta love bifocals). It takes me pretty long to comb through the rue and guess what...I'm itching again! Arg! I even washed my arms real good right after I came in, but it doesn't seem to have done anything. I also found eggs on the gas plants (actually a lot more on those today than on the rue), and maybe I'm allergic to those too. Ooh, lucky you to be raising a Tiger Swallowtail! I only had one of those one time and it ended up dying. I read later on where someone said they mist theirs, so if I ever get any again, I'll try that. It was nice reading about all that you have there. mostone, Nice pictures! I think Black Swallowtails are very pretty! I just had 3 pupate that I found in the rue when I was looking for Giant Swallowtail eggs a few days ago. Congrats on the BST find! It will probably eclose this year yet, but swallowtails are so unpredictable that I can't say for sure. Sherry, It sounds like the butterflies sure love your place! That's nice that you get such a wide variety. I haven't seen any Viceroys here this year either or last year. I also had Variegated Frits last year but not this year. Here I planted a whole bunch of violas for them (they loved them last year), but now they're pretty much spent. So if the VFs show up, they probably won't have much to eat. I can feed them passionvine leaves though. Yes, I most certainly will have fun raising the Giants! Now I also have about 2 dozen PVS to raise that we found on the A. macrophylla today. I also have several dozen Monarch cats and could have many dozen more if I'd collect them more regularly, but some things just can't be done and so something has to fall by the wayside. I figure what I raise is already more than what would have made it on their own. Almost every medium to large Monarch cat that I found and brought in this year had been parasitized by those darn tachinid flies. I brought them in just on the off chance that they were okay and also so that I could destroy the fly pupae in case the Monarchs weren't okay. It was nice hearing about others' butterfly adventures. I always enjoy reading about the kinds of butterflies that other people have in their yards/gardens. Cathy

Baptisia is a great plant. No pests, insect or mammal, have ever bothered mine. Mine was a gallon pot purchase and was in the ground two years before blooming. It's been in about five years now and its spread (Flop some might say but it is "solid" not floppy - looks like a full shrub. I don't stake/prop it up.) is about six feet. The size surprised me and I've had to move some plants out of its way. Worth it. Mine is in sandy soil, full sun. No extra water, gets compost top dressing in the spring as does the rest of the garden. It dies back in the winter. The stems look sort of "woody" as you've described but they aren't. The one possible downside is that it reportedly has a tap root that goes down for miles and so doesn't like to be moved. A friend of mine, however, moved one at his house and ended up with a healthy transplant and a healthy plant where he no longer wanted one. He's a laid back kind of guy so he decided he likes it both places.