Merian found this bright caterpillar (Acharia ophelians) on a watermelon plant and waited for it to hatch, anticipating it would become an equally gaudy butterfly. On 10 August 1700, however, she noted that ‘such an unsightly moth emerged’. Reflecting on the unpredictability of the insect life cycle, she wrote ‘It has happened to me that the most beautiful and unusual caterpillars turned into the plainest creatures, while the plainest caterpillars turned into the most beautiful moths and butterflies’