As you know I spend as much time out of doors as possible. Saturday June 29 we had a crowd of about 100 attend our program at Colonel Denning State Park near Newville. We found many White-marked Moth Caterpillars crawling around the amphitheater, I brought two home - they both pupated later that night. They do sting and those who are sensitive to such things can get a painful rash but these guys were kind enough that no one got stung although everyone "played" with them.
Jonas Sauder has a small woodlot on his property and his daughter Katie took Florence and I on a hike to see their Indian Smoke pipes, This is an unusual plant that I have not seen for 30 years, so I jumped at the chance. They are a "parasite on a parasite." They live off of the energy of trees that they steal from fungi attached to the tree roots. Having no chlorophyll they are ghostly white. They are an angiosperm (flowering seed plant) but the lack of chlorophyll makes them unique.
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| Indian Smoke Pipes |
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| White-marked moth |
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| White-marked moth caterpillar |
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