I found these in my butterfly bushes...

[Digging in the Dirt 3]

I was hoping that some of the old wood on my butterfly bushes survived the winter, but I finally gave up and cut them back last weekend.  I found a few of these cocoon's/chrysalis on my butterfly bushes, and I'm not quite sure what they are. 

 

 

 

 

I went out online and it looks like the chrysalis of most butterflies are longer and narrower, so I don't think it's a butterfly, but I'm not sure.  Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

 

 

 

   

[Dsmith74 16]

Hard to judge scale from this pic, but it looks like a praying mantis egg case to me. 

[Deb Green 0]

Looks like a praying mantis egg case to me also.

[Digging in the Dirt 3]

Thanks for the replies Dsmith74 and Deb Green.  I went out online, and it sure looks like what I found are praying mantis egg cases.  When I found the egg cases, I cut off a good section of the butterfly bush branch, then stuck the branch into a container, and put them on my front porch.

 

I read that it's really difficult to tell when the praying mantis babies hatch because the egg case does not change appearance in any way.  They went on to say that you should attach the egg case to a twig or branch about a foot or two off the ground where there will be cover for the praying mantis babies when the hatch.  However, since I don't have any plants that far out of the ground yet, I guess I will take the butterfly bush branches out of the container, and put them back into my flower garden for now.

 

Thanks again for your replies. 

[Steven Nikkila 32]

I know it is a preying mantis egg mass. Here's a story we wrote about one egg mass in particular: https://gardenatoz.org/whats-up/green-thumbs-up-and-down/mantis-claus/mantis-true-story/