We hooked up the digital microscope and were able to watch each step in the process as a painted lady butterfly larva emerged from its egg.

The first video clip shows the larva moving inside its egg and trying to break free.

Unfortunately the focus isn't very good in some of the photos.  Most of the photos are taken at 200x magnification.  The microscope does focus on flat objects at 200x magnification, but the eggs are 3 dimensional.   If you look at the first photo, the top edge of the egg is in focus, but as you look down the egg, it gets more blurry.  So only one height will be in sharp focus in any picture.  

Still, it was amazing watching the larva emerge.

The eggs changed color.  They had been a creamy, opaque color when they were first laid.  On the fourth day, they were much darker and there was a brown spot at the top.
The dark spot on the side of the egg, is where the larva is starting to eat or break its way out of the egg shell.
At this point, we switched to 60x magnification.  The larva has broken out of its egg and is starting to crawl out.
Here's a picture of the larva, after it was out of the shell.  The second picture was taken with a camera.  It shows the larva (about 2 mm long).  The clear white dot on the leaf, is the empty egg shell.

Here's a 2 minute video of the larva climbing out it's shell.

Read more about raising Painted Lady Butterflies.