Nature is imperfect. It's actually a miracle that any egg ever gets to be a butterfly, given the number of mistakes that can occur at so many stages. Even human babies spontaneously miscarry at least one third of the time, sorry to use such a depressing comparison. Nature is wasteful. That is why every female butterfly lays hundreds of eggs, hoping for just a few to make it to adulthood. It is sad to see it happen, when we have so much emotion invested in their success. Hopefully your other eggs and cats will survive. Wish I could give you a hug.

Martha

Treehugger, Is some of the skin still on? Sometimes they don't quite get the last bit off.

Or were there any black spots or anything like that?

Sorry this happened--like Martha said, sometimes things just go awry.