Egg of a Butterfly.
After mating, a female butterfly lays a fair number of eggs, one at a time on the bottom of a leaf of a specific plant. It takes about a week for the egg to develop to the point of producing a caterpillar. The caterpillar eats and eats while it goes though about 5 moults getting bigger and bigger in a period of a few weeks. The caterpillar than spins a button and hangs itself from this button and creates its cocoon which exists with no outward activity for another few weeks. During this period of inactivity, metamorphysis occurs. The caterpillar turns into a "DNA Soup" which turns into the butterfly we see in our gardens!! Butterflies live a long time, a season, some migrating thousands of miles to hibernate and then return for mating.