Last September my son Jonathan found a huge green caterpillar. It seemed about the size of my thumb!
I didn't get a picture of the caterpillar, but here's a stock photo.
We took it into the house and put it into a jar with an apple branch. To our surprise,
within minutes it began to sew the leaves together with silk and formed a cocoon.
I identified the caterpillar as a polyphemus moth, one of the five giant silk moths in our area.
We waited for nine months and it finally emerged yesterday. Its antannae are 3/4" long,
its body is 1-1/4" long and its wingspan is over 6 inches!
We let it go last night and it fluttered off into the darkness.
Here are two photos that I took. 