Hiya kids - your old pal P.Ray here! And I tell ya, now that the weather’s warmed up, I’ve REALLY been chowing down on the house flies here in the Paper Garden!

Whoa - look at the "fly belly" on me! I gotta get some exercise! Let’s "walk off lunch," and I’ll tell you about something wild that happened to me the last time I was this full of flies…

I had flown up into the branches of a big tulip poplar tree to take a nap on its nice comfy leaves. I closed my eyes for just a second, and when I opened them again, another set of eyes was looking BACK at me!

And they were attached to a fat green snake! I had never seen a snake in a tree before, so I politely asked, "How’d you get all the way up here, snakey-boy?" But he didn’t answer - he just kept looking at me!

Now, I have to be careful around snakes - most would eat me as fast as I’d go after a tasty little caterpillar. But this one didn’t seem big enough to hurt me; he was just about my size, in fact…

I thought, hey! Snakes are predators… I’m a predator…maybe we can team up! Like Batman and Robin!

I asked if he’d like to go catch some dinner with me a little later. He started waving that big head of his around, but didn’t say anything. So I got a little mad! I was raised to answer your manti when they ask you a question, so I reached out to tap him on the head to get his attention…

When I did, a giant pair of horns suddenly appeared! I had never seen such a thing before! I moved a little closer to see them better, and then I smelled it! Pee-YOUUU-EEE!!! What a NASTY odor! It was awful!

I flew back down to the ground and yelled up into the tree, "You ever hear of mouthwash, pal?!" I was going to say a lot more, but just then Toni the Tiger came flying by - she’s a beautiful Tiger Swallowtail butterfly who likes the flowers in my garden. She usually keeps her distance, even though I’ve told her she’s too pretty to eat.

But THIS time, she came diving down at me, flapping her wings and yelling in that thin little voice butterflies have, "P.Ray! You keep your miserable mantis mitts off my little baby boy!"

"Huh? What baby?" I asked. "All I’ve had today was flies…and a nasty experience with a smelly little snake!"

Then Toni started to laugh - and let me tell you, there’s nothing prettier than a butterfly’s laugh! "Snake??!! That was no snake," she explained, "that was my little caterpillar, T.S. Tail!"

I said, "But those big eyes…"

"Those aren’t real eyes," she explained, "those are his 'ocelli' - fake eyes that scare away hungry creatures like you! I guess they worked!"

"I wasn’t scared," I yelled back, "but I almost tossed my flies when that bad boy of yours stuck his tongue out at me and I smelled his breath! If caterpillars have teeth, his are WAY overdue for a brushing!"

"Oh, you silly creature," said Toni. "You must have touched him on the head!"
"Yeah - I did," I admitted.

"Then you activated his other defense," she explained. "You made his osmeterium pop out!"

"Os-mer-what-e-um?"

She said, "Os-me-ter-ium. It’s a special body part that some caterpillars have! Touch them on the head or back and what looks like horns or a forked tongue will pop out and give off a NASTY smell!"

"Yeah…I noticed," I told her. Then I thought for a minute and said, "I wish the kids out there could see one up close - it looks really neat."

"They can," she told me. "If they find a caterpillar with ‘big eyes,’ they can just touch it very gently behind the head and the osmeterium will pop out!"

"And stink up the place," I said. "Hope those kids are wearing gas masks!"

That made her mad! "Well," she said, "SOME insects I know can stink up the place without an osmeterium!"

"Hey!" I yelled, "what do you mean by that?!" She just turned and flew away.
But I swear I could hear a caterpillar laughing up in that tulip poplar tree!

THE END


GLOSSARY WORD
Predator: An animal or insect that hunts and eats other animals or insects.


Story by Mike "Hellgramite" McGrath, with help from butterfly guru Rick Mikula.
Illustrations by Yasushi Fujiomoto and Tokiko Jinta.
Animation by Glenn Hughes.