Preface 



The male loads the earth on the three- 

 pronged fork that surmounts his head and 

 carries it to the entrance of the conjugal 

 dwelling. Next, he goes into the fields in 

 search of the harmless droppings left by the 

 sheep, takes them down to the first storey of 

 the crypt and reduces them to flour with his 

 trident, while the mother, right at the bottom, 

 collects the flour and kneads it into huge cylin- 

 drical loaves, which will presently be food for 

 the little ones. For three months, until the 

 provisions are deemed sufficient, the unfortu- 

 nate husband, without taking nourishment of 

 any kind, exhausts himself in this gigantic 

 work. At last, his task accomplished, feeling 

 his end at hand, so as not to encumber the 

 house with his wretched remains, he spends 

 his last strength in leaving the burrow, drags 

 himself laboriously along and, lonely and re- 

 signed, knowing that he is henceforth good for 

 nothing, goes and dies tar away among the 

 stones. 



Here, on another side, are some rather 

 strange caterpillars, the Processionaries, 

 which are not rare; and, as it happens, a 

 single string of them, five or six yards long, 

 has just climbed down from my umbrella* 



15 



