On Mon, 7 Apr 2003, Kay Easton wrote:

In article .hx,
Kostas Kavoussanakis writes

On Sun, 6 Apr 2003, Kay Easton wrote:

Possibly. Caterpillars have big appetites. Can you find some mallow
plants nearby to transfer them to?

Not to my knowledge (not that I would be able to recognise them).

They have similar leaves to hollyhock. They're often covered with orange
spots of rust fungus (though usually later in the year).

Thanks for the description. I just found out what the orange spots on
my hollyhocks are. I will attack as quickly as I can with something
containing sulphur.

Or you could pick the caterpillars off into a box and put in several
sorts of leaves to see if they'll eat anything else.

Well, I did just that and fed them a plantain (I think it's called)
leaf. They ate part of it but looked distressed to me. I released them
away from the hollyhocks and they have fled/been eaten by something.

Kostas (time to spray the roses with sulphur anyway)