Unless you have some that aren't "hyper-technical" (I may have coined a word here) then it would be better for them to go to professionals. I like books with more than just a pretty picture, like information about preferred host plants, information about raising the cats successfully, interesting information about lep/cat behavior, without going into extreme detail, like this or that caterpillar does better at 500' elevation than 600' elevation, if you know what I mean. Of course, pretty pictures don't hurt! :) Sherry

hidesert_windy - FWIW, the V.cardui "blew" through southern Nevada a month ago. And there was not very many of them down here, in fact so light that they were almost missed. Normal years the move north is usually at least heavy enough that even a person not interested in leps will notice them. Not this year. With all the crazy cold/hot/cold and very windy weather we've had this year I'd bet a lot of the early leps have their schedules out of whack. So I don't know if that was the migration or not. If so many individuals were probably killed by the freak cold fronts and storms. What you saw could have blown into your area, could have been over wintered pupa that emerged someplace near your area or even over wintered adults right from your area. Of interest maybe... the migrations appear to be cyclic and heavier than normal every few years. But since I started seriously studying leps in 1964, the heaviest spring migration of V. cardui I have ever seen was in about 1989-90-91 while living in northern Utah. Can't remember for sure which year and my logs are all packed in storage. But it was so heavy that the cardui literally covered any surface they could hang onto wing tip to wing tip, with more hovering and trying to find a place to land. The ground, all plants, buildings... everything moved with them. It wasn't localized either. I drove out onto the west desert all the way to the Nevada border on back roads to photograph them that weekend, and never found a place they were not just as thick. You couldn't even get out of your vehicle without stepping on them. The following week I left Utah on a business trip that took me to Boise, then Twin Falls, Sun Valley and Idaho Falls before making a loop through western Montana from Butte to Missoula, Kalispell, Great Falls and back down to Bozeman, then to Jackson Wyoming before returning home. They were just as thick everywhere I went along that trip and were actually a driving hazard. The roads everywhere were littered with uncountable numbers of them that had been killed by vehicles. No doubt I was kind of following the migration north much of that trip, even if it was scheduled by my secretary, but it was still quite a sight. LOL L.

The Northern Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana var. virginiana) tree is native to my region of New Jersey. However, I have never seen this tree in natural occurance at all - it must be rare for my region, and only listed for the sake of a few rare discoveries. It is a known host of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Do you think that Eastern Tiger Swallowtails will be drawn to the two Sweetbay Magnolia trees that I planted, once mature and large. Will the scent likely trigger an attractive response? I think that scent/chemical signal may be more important to butterflies and moths, more then sight and memory. Yet, the local Tiger Swallowtails may not be genetically related to populations that have speciated in association with Sweetbays. I hope so - the scent of the flowers is extremely strong. Steve

My best caterpillar ID book lists the sycamore tussock moth as occurring from southern Michigan and New England to Florida and Texas. The fact that this moth isn't officially listed just means that nobody has sent in a picture for an official verification that it occurs there. There are MANY moths that occur in my state that aren't listed. I haven't been sending in pictures to my representative, because the last time I tried - quite a few years ago - he was very uncooperative, acted like I was bothering him. I probably should try again - we may have a new rep.! Congrats on your cat! Sherry