The night we decorated our tree, Lillee found a little gift under the tree as she was placing baby Jesus on a limb. I found her discovery the next morning when I was vacuuming pine needles from the carpet. It was this odd little pod. It had a texture similar to a wasp nest, but was shiny in places, not dull like a wasp nest. I thought it may be sap that had leaked from the tree because one end almost looked as if it has been oozing out of something. It was attached to a branch, not the trunk of the tree and felt very light, and I assumed hollow as I shook it and heard nothing.
We decided to cut into it to see what we might find. I expected a worm, an insect, an egg of some sort. Instead, there were layers of the outer material and no room for a worm, insect or egg....so I thought. I squeezed it a bit and yellow fluid began to seep from the layers. Then I saw black specks coming through the yellow fluid.
After further examination with a flashlight, we found the layers were actually divided into cells....fascinating!
We searched for an hour on the internet, using very descriptive terms but came up empty handed. Within 5 minutes of posting on one of my homeschooling boards, someone told me it sounded like a mantid egg sac. Sure enough, it was a mantid egg sac!
I love discovery, research and answers! Science is such fun and I hope my kids will continue to enjoy and have a love of exploration and the desire to find answers without fear.
5 comments:
You didn't get eggs or mantids all over your house, did you? That might not be so cool.
I remember a couple years ago when we were in Maryland and bought our Christmas tree from Home Depot (back before we had the awesome tradition of hauling crying children out to a cold farm to perform manual labor and chop down our own). We got it home and set it up- only to find a million bugs all over it. We had to take it down, move it outside, and hose it down. Needless to say, I didn't lay on the carpet where it had been for a while after that.
Hi Amanda!
Thanks for checking out those photos of Caelyn. I'd love to do a photo shoot for your family. We'll discuss how we can do this over email or phone. I'm hesitant to post my email here...do you think you can get it or my number from Rebecca?? I can't think over another way to do that! Thanks!! I'm excited.
--Emily
Yep. We call them praying mantises.
(The only insect which can turn it's head....kinda spooky when they look at you.)
Hi, my name is Yuka.
Im Japanese girl!
Your children are sooo kawaii!!!:)
I love these photos.
nike nfl football jerseys
wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys
wholesale jerseys
wholesale NBA Jerseys
where can i find cheap jerseys
Post a Comment